The Philippines closed all public schools on Monday and Tuesday due to dangerously high temperatures, moving classes online in a country where schools are often closed due to tropical storms.
Over the past week, average temperatures in many parts of the country have exceeded 40 degrees Celsius or 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Extreme heat is forecast to cover almost the entire country this week, with the heat index in some regions rising to at least 42 degrees Celsius, or “danger” level, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. That designation is the second highest on the agency’s heat index scale. He advised people to avoid sun exposure or risk heat stroke, heat exhaustion and cramps.
In metropolitan Manila, where the heat index is forecast to reach 45 degrees Celsius early this week, residents of overcrowded slums have been cooling off by setting up colorful inflatable pools on busy streets. Others in this megacity have been diving into Manila Bay, flouting rules against swimming in its polluted waters.
In its notice on school closures, the Department of Education said Sunday that the extreme weather coincided with a nationwide strike of jeepneys, the colorful open-air vehicles that are the main form of public transportation in the Philippines. Jeepney drivers are protesting against a government plan to phase out their rides, which trace their origins to US military jeeps, and replace them with modern, more energy-efficient minibuses.
The extreme heat had already forced some schools to cancel classes before the government’s call to close. The Jesus Good Shepherd School in Imus, a city south of Manila, sent its students home last week due to rising temperatures, even though the private institution is among a small minority of schools in the country. which has air conditioning in each classroom.
“It is difficult for both students and teachers to concentrate, because the air conditioning also has problems,” said Ana Marie Macarimbang, a fifth-grade teacher at the school who has taught for almost two decades. “We are in a tropical country, yes, but the heat now is more intense than I can remember.”
Historically, weather-related school closures in the Philippines have been most common during the typhoon season, which peaks between July and October. The current closures, teacher groups maintain, could have been avoided if authorities had not changed the school calendar after the pandemic. The school year now runs from approximately August to May, instead of the previous June to March calendar.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has said he has no objection to readjusting the school calendar and attributed the extreme heat to climate change. The government “didn’t really expect it to be like this,” Marcos said earlier this month.
Extreme temperatures are also disrupting daily life in other parts of Asia, including Cambodia and Vietnam. Earlier this month, a heat wave forced schools to close in Bangladesh and India.