Young mother Rosanna braved Manila’s 44°C heat index on Friday to visit the shopping district of Divisoria and buy supplies for seven-year old son Ken who is about to become Grade 1 pupil.
“My mother used to buy my school supplies here in Divisoria when I was my son’s age. A notebook here is at least P20 (Dh1.20) is cheaper and there are lots of choices,” she said.
Aside from notebooks, Rosanna is buying two sets of school uniforms at P200 per suite. In addition, she hopes to buy a school bag, a pair of black school shoes, pencils, and crayons. She hopes her P2,000 budget would cover all her planned purchases.
The Department of Education (DepEd) has announced that the new academic year would commence on June 8. About 23.5 million elementary and high school students would descend on public and private schools across the country just as the summer heat peaks.
“I am worried that classrooms would be too hot for Ken and the other children at this time of the year,” Rosanna admitted.
Overcrowded classrooms
The country had always suffered from classroom shortage crisis. While the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government had prioritized flood control projects that turn out to be substandard due to corruption, its current public classroom shortfall stands at 165,000 units, according to the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT).
DepEd, citing Commission on Audit reports, was quick to point out it is trying to build more classrooms after Vice President Sara Duterte as education secretary made the situation worse. It revealed that in Duterte’s two years as education chief from 2022 to 2024, DepEd only had 192 new classrooms, a measly 3% completion rate of the planned 6,400 new classrooms planned every year.
The situation has maintained average public school classroom population at about 60 students per class nationwide. The recommended global average is 23 students per classroom.
ACT has consistently criticized the government about the festering crisis. While corrupt government officials fund irregular flood control projects, ACT said the hapless students and teachers suffer dangerously hot conditions inside classrooms during daytime.
Save the children
As the Philippines suffers from above-average heat indexes this year, the local United Nations Childrens Fund (Unicef) has launched a campaign to save children from extreme heat made worse by climate change.
“Children are not small adults. Their bodies heat up faster, cool down more slowly, and rely on caregivers and systems for protection,” Unicef Philippines said.
The international agency said prolonged extreme heat increases risks of heat stress, dehydration, respiratory illness, and reduced concentration, with infants, young children and those in dense urban areas most exposed.
Unicef added that such pressures may not look like emergencies, but children bear the consequences longest. It said that children are on the frontline of the climate crisis in the Philippines. “Over 97 per cent are exposed to three or more climate-related shocks,” it said, calling on the government to draw up and implements policies to protect the children.
So far, DepEd has left the decision to school heads and local government units to suspend classes due to extreme weather, such as elevated heat indexes. As a result, tens of thousands of schools have suspended classes throughout academic year 2025-2026.
Rosanna’s last purchase before going home from Divisoria is a portable handheld and battery-powered fan for Ken. “I wished we had these when I was still a student. I remember fanning myself with notebooks when I was a student myself,” she said wistfully.
Like her, dozens of parents were forced to queue for the fans as well. # (Raymund B.Villanueva)
