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InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA, Philippines -- The Department of Education (DepEd) will no longer be responsible for announcing the suspension of classes in times of typhoons, flooding, and other calamities.
This, after Malacanang issued on Jan. 9 Executive Order 66, which automatically suspends classes in public and private schools as well as work in government offices during the following storm signals:
* Signal No. 1 - Classes at the pre-school level, in the affected area, shall be automatically cancelled or suspended.
* Signal No. 2 - Classes at the pre-school, elementary and secondary levels, in the affected area, shall be automatically cancelled or suspended.
* Signal No. 3 - Classes at pre-school, elementary, secondary and tertiary levels, in the affected area, including graduate school, as well as work in all government offices, shall be automatically cancelled or suspended.
President Benigno Aquino III issued the order to avoid public confusion.
DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro welcomed the Malacanang order, saying it would allow school officials to focus on other things. He said his department won’t be blamed for delay in announcements.
“We will be working closely with LGU (local government unit) executives for the effective implementation of this EO and helping keep our parents and students informed. We will also issue a new DepEd Order based on EO 66,” he said.
How it was before
Luistro has always believed that local executives and local DepEd officials are in the best position to decide on class suspension once the weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) comes out with the storm signals.
DepEd Order No. 28, series of 2005, provides that classes in all public and private elementary and secondary schools are automatically suspended or cancelled without having to wait for any announcement under the following circumstances:
* When Pagasa raises Signal No. 1, classes at the pre-school level shall be automatically suspended in all public and private schools.
* When Signal No. 2 is raised, classes at the pre-school, elementary and secondary levels shall be automatically suspended in all public and private schools.
* In the absence of storm signals, DepEd allows localized suspension. The decision may be made by the school principal, division superintendent, or local government executive.
In any case, Luistro believes that “the final decision to let the child go to school or not is left with the parents. Local suspension and parental decision are allowed since parents and officials on the ground have a better idea about the situation in their areas.”
For college students
For its part, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) does not suspend classes.
“We leave that decision to schools,” CHED chairperson Patricia B. Licuanan said. “It is a policy that has worked for years, and now, since communication systems have improved it has become easier to implement this policy.”
Licuanan had met with college and university associations to discuss class suspension.
Among those she met were the Catholic Education Association of the Philippines (CEAP), Association of Christian Schools, Colleges and Universities (ACSCU), Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU), Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC), Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA), Philippine Association of Private Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAPSCU) and representatives from Ateneo De Manila University, Miriam College, Centro Escolar University, Trinity University of Asia, University of the East, Far Eastern University, and UP Diliman.
Facebook, Twitter, websites, and text blasts
While radio and TV still manage to get the message out, Facebook and Twitter, as well as text messages, are now being used to announce any class suspension.
“The most common way we inform our students on the suspension of classes is through Facebook,” said John Paul Vergara, vice president for Loyal Schools of the Ateneo De Manila University.
“That is where the students go as soon as there is word that schools could cancel classes,” Vergara said adding that a few seconds after Ateneo declares the suspension of classes on Facebook, it spreads like wildfire.
Ateneo updates its Facebook account on a periodic basis even if all it has to say is that “this time there is no word yet” -- making it more official.
“We do text blasting and Facebook as well,” Ricardo de Leon, executive vice president and information officer of Centro Escolar University, said.
De Leon said that CEU also consults nearby universities like University of the East and University of Sto.Tomas and its disaster control group which monitors the situation.
“Once a decision is reached, the deans are informed and they get the word out through the student organizations,” he added.
Ester Garcia, UE president, said the university also uses text messaging and social media.
“I communicate the message to the deans who have a system of reaching their students through text messaging. We try to use a system which is fastest so that announcements reach our students immediately,” she said.
Garcia makes sure that her announcement on the suspension of classes is out by 4 a.m. at the latest.
Representatives of universities and colleges have also agreed that if classes were suspended by midday, students would be kept in school where they would be safer rather than have them walking or driving on flooded streets. The colleges and universities have also made sure that their food concessionaires stay open during a storm.
“We prefer that CHED give us the power to suspend classes because we know the environment of our schools,” said Josefina S. Sumaya, president of the Trinity University of Asia.
“We organize a lifeline brigade where assignments are given to some people to relay information about the situation through texting and calling,” she said.
For CHED, these discussions confirm the wisdom and effectiveness of the longstanding policy and protocol it observes on giving Higher Education Institutions more autonomy and freedom to make such decisions.
In addition, these institutions also have to deal with the impact of the suspension of classes and the loss of class days which affect some institutions more seriously than others due to different schedules.
HEIs, teachers, and students on a trimester system would be more likely to protest a centralized and unilateral suspension of classes to avoid the need for makeup classes for the loss of required class days.
“We have arrived at a consensus that essentially the policy of CHED, such as it is, is the best for now and we will stick to it. Colleges and universities have the authority to make the decision. Our challenge is to be sure that it is communicated to the students in an efficient way. I am now even more assured that the communication system has improved over the years because of social media,” Licuanan said.
