Class cancellations: Balancing safety and learning

Growing up in the pre-social media era, rainy mornings meant tuning in to A.M. radio to check if classes were canceled. The announcer typically mentioned affected cities in alphabetical order, and as soon as I heard “Parañaque,” I would immediately crawl back under the covers. On days when no such declaration was made, I would slip into autopilot mode and prepare for school while half-asleep.

However, there were times when the verdict on class cancellation came much later, and my classmates and I would already be in school. The joy of an unexpected day off was always tempered by the logistical nightmare of getting home. Our school bus service would eventually show up, but since its limited fleet was designed to pick up students at different dismissal times, not all of us could be immediately accommodated. Whenever I missed the first batch, my stranded busmates and I would sit down on the pavement, with little to do except eat microwavable pizza from the sole open food stand and wait for the second shift. Before we knew it, we had spent almost the entire day in school just waiting to go home.

Lost time was one thing, but the inconvenience I endured pales in comparison to the experience of students and teachers who rely on public transportation. Aside from braving heavy rain, they stand in long queues for a bus or jeepney and sit through hours of traffic to get to school, only for classes to eventually be canceled. They need to brace themselves for an even more challenging journey back home, with the possibility of getting stranded in flooded or vehicle-scarce areas.

To enhance the efficiency of class cancellation announcements, the Department of Education released updated guidelines in September 2022. According to Department Order No. 37, in-person and online classes from kindergarten to Grade 12 and work are automatically suspended if the school is in an area under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal Nos. 1 to 5. The same is followed in cases where there is a flood warning, as well as when there are orange (intense) and red (torrential) rainfall warnings.

Nonetheless, delays in announcing class suspensions still occur when there are no official storm warnings from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) but there are strong winds, torrential rains, or flooding in specific areas. In these cases, suspension of classes is left to the local government unit’s discretion. Since public school classes start as early as 6 a.m., announcements made after 4:30 a.m. mean that many students are already en route, with some having already reached school. This not only compromises their safety, but also wastes their time, money, and resources.

Some disagree with early class cancellations, with concerns about unnecessary disruptions to the learning process, especially given the significant pandemic-related learning loss. I would argue, however, that announcing class cancellations a day in advance whenever possible could afford teachers ample time to plan and assign asynchronous activities, ensuring the momentum of learning continues at home. This would be a far more beneficial use of the students’ time, than the frustration and physical exhaustion they endure when stuck in the commute to school.

Department Order No. 37 acknowledges the need for adjustments in learning delivery in the event of class cancellations and encourages schools to implement modular distance learning, performance tasks, and make-up classes to ensure that learning competencies are still met. As climate change continues to make weather disturbances more common, schools should be more proactive in planning for quality remote learning activities that could be implemented during typhoon season. These measures could be as straightforward as preparing worksheets to reinforce mastery of previously tackled concepts or projects that students could undertake at home to introduce them to new topics scheduled for classroom discussion. The lockdown has provided us educators enough practice to guide our students in learning beyond the confines of the classroom. Perhaps it is time to apply that same creative resourcefulness to this context.

As always, flexibility and empathy must be paramount. Given that many students still grapple with challenges such as inconsistent internet access, unreliable devices, and a lack of quiet study spaces, the objective should not be to replicate everything they would have accomplished in a typical classroom day. Saturday makeup classes can serve that purpose. Instead, the focus should be activities that spark a child’s curiosity, deepen understanding, and build self-sufficiency. By nurturing independent learners and encouraging proactive educators, we are also cultivating a more resilient education system that could evolve with changes and overcome disruptions brought about by an uncertain future.

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