THREE.
This is the number of electric fans that the parents-teachers association of a classroom in Mandaue City Comprehensive National High School (MCCNHS) plan to buy to help alleviate the unease brought about by the hot weather.
Grade 10 student Andre Jio Capa said his classroom already has three existing electric fans—two ceiling fans and a stand fan. But he said these are not enough to combat the heat inside the room, which has more than 50 students.
Capa, 15, said in an interview on Tuesday, April 24, 2023, that their parents decided to split the bill for the purchase of the electric fans. The price of an electric fan ranges from P1,000 to P2,000 or even higher, depending on the brand.
Most classrooms at MCCNHS, a public school in Barangay Centro, do not have air-conditioning units.
Some students and teachers in Mandaue City have appealed to the Department of Education (DepEd) to return to opening the school year in June so there would be no classes during the normally dry hot months of March to May, with temperatures ranging from 30 to 36 degrees Celsius.
Pagasa-Visayas chief Alfredo Quiblat Jr. earlier said the heat index in Cebu had been ranging from 38 to 40 degrees Celsius in the past days, adding that this level is already under the classification of extreme caution. Heat index is the measure of relative humidity and air temperature in an area which the body feels.
Under the K to 12 curriculum, classes start in August and end in June. Before the K-12 basic education program’s implementation, the school year traditionally ended either in March or April or just right around the dry months.
One teacher who favored a June school opening was Emelita Infante, a teacher at Ibabao-Estancia Elementary School, as the hot and humid weather in the past days had affected her students’ concentration.
She asked her students to bring portable fans, face towels and apply baby powder to their skin to prevent irritation. “Ma-distract gyod sila kay alimuot (They are easily distracted because of the humid weather),” Infante said Tuesday.
Some teachers often brought extra uniforms to school so they could change if they were already too sweaty.
MCCNHS Grade 8 student Nicole Napiere also hoped that the DepEd would revert the school opening to June so she can enjoy a summer vacation in April and May.
She said many of her fellow students complained of difficulty in breathing because of the hot weather.
The DepEd Central Office has not made a decision on changing the school opening in the next school year; however, it has issued a memorandum to public and private schools reminding them that they are authorized to suspend in-person classes and switch to alternative delivery modes (ADM).
DepEd Central Visayas Director Salustiano Jimenez said on Wednesday, April 26 that ADM refers to various learning delivery that combines face-to-face with any or a mix of online distance learning, modular distance learning and television/radio-based instruction.
“During the time that the students can no longer tolerate the intense heat, the school has the option to use modular learning,” Jimenez said. / HIC, EHP