The recent torrential rains in Manila had parents angry again at the slow response of school and local officials to declare whether there are classes or not. The schools finally declared that there will be no classes by noon... when the children are already in school!
Every single year it's like this since what? The 1970s? I don't get it. Parents, please also think, if you think there's too much rain and it would put your child in danger of either being stranded or be like what happened with Ondoy, stay home. Missing one class is not going to affect your child.
Of course, because of that, these memes came out.
Here's the message from the Department of Education.
Department of Education reiterates suspension of classes now lies with LGUs (Local Government Units) especially this rainy season.
AUTOMATIC cancellation of classes during typhoons will still be based on the storm signal sent out by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) but the Department of Education (DepEd) will no longer be announcing class suspension. The responsibility now lies with the local government officials as they are in a better position to assess the local situation.
This is contained in Executive Order no. 66 signed by President Aquino on January 9, 2012. Based on that, DepEd then crafted DepEd Order 43 to guide its regional, division and school officials on actions to take in times of calamities and adverse weather conditions. The order applies to both public and private schools.
Based on the aforementioned DepEd Order, the following guidelines still apply: When Signal No. 1 is raised by PAGASA, public and private pre-school and kindergarten classes in the affected areas are automatically suspended. At Signal No. 2 the suspension will also include elementary and secondary classes. When Signal No. 3 is announced, classes in all levels and work in all DepEd offices are cancelled. Depending on the signal announced between 10 p.m. and 4:30 a.m. the following day, classes in appropriate levels for the whole day are deemed automatically suspended.
In the absence of typhoon signals from PAGASA, localized suspension of classes in both public and private schools and work in government offices may be implemented by the local chief executive in their capacity as chairpersons of the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (LDRRMC).
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