Classes May be Suspended If Heat Index is Too High

Department of Education Region 7 (DepEd 7) gave the discretion to school administrators in the region to suspend classes if the weather gets too hot.

DepEd Assitant Regional Director Attorney Fiel Almendra clarified that there is no formal policy for the suspension of classes if an area would reach a heat index of 42 degrees Celcius and above. However, school admins are now given the discretion to suspend classes to look after teachers and children.

With the hot weather persisting, schools may switch to alternative learning modalities, such as online or modular classes, to complete the required number of school days per school year, which is 203 days.

Moreover, DepEd said that they are asking the advice from the Department of Health (DOH) on when to suspend classes, as heat exhaustion or heat stroke are always a danger, especially in extremely hot weather.

According to a weather forecast from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the whole Visayas, including Kalayaan Islands and Occidental Mindoro will experience partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms caused by Easterlies / Localized thunderstorms.

Meanwhile, PAGASA has reported that the temperature in Metro Cebu ranges from a low of 27 degrees Celsius to a high of 32 degrees Celsius.

The heat index in Cebu hit its highest at 41 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, May 9, 2023. (ASC)