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In-person class suspended in Philippines due to heat wave
Distance learning also implemented due to nationwide transportation strike
People buy coconut water to cool themselves along a road in Manila on April 24, 2024, as extreme heat affected the country. Photo: AFP
The Philippines will suspend in-person classes in all public schools for two days (Monday and Tuesday) due to extreme heat, the Department of Education said on Sunday (April 28).
Many schools in the Philippines have no air-conditioning, leaving students and teachers to swelter in crowded, poorly ventilated classrooms.
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The suspension of in-person classes came after Manila, the country's capital, hit a record high of 38.8 degrees Celsius (101.8 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday with the heat index reaching 45C.
"In view of the latest heat index forecast...all public schools nationwide shall implement asynchronous classes/distance learning on April 29 and 30, 2024," the Department of Education said on Facebook.
The announcement to suspend in-person classes also came after public transportation groups announced a three-day nationwide strike starting Monday.
The groups are protesting the government's plan to phase out "jeepneys," the most commonly-used public transportation used by many Filipinos to commute to work and school.
The months of March, April and May are typically the hottest and driest of the year, but this year's conditions have been unusually severe.
"All places in the country, not necessarily just Metro Manila, are expected to have hotter temperatures until the second week of May," Glaiza Escullar of the state weather forecaster told AFP.
Global temperatures hit record highs last year, and the United Nations' weather and climate agency said Tuesday that Asia was warming at a particularly rapid pace.
The Philippines ranks among the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
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