MANILA: Kindergarten teacher Lolita Akim fires up five standing fans with three more at the ready as she fights to hold the attention of her pint-sized pupils in Manila\u2019s soaring heat.
\nLast year, heatwaves forced millions of children in the Philippines out of school. It was the first time that soaring temperatures had caused widespread class suspensions, prompting a series of changes.
\nThis school year started two months earlier than usual, so the term ends before peak heat in May. Classes have been rearranged to keep children out of the midday heat, and schools are equipped with fans and water stations.
\nThe moves are examples of how countries are adapting to the higher temperatures caused by climate change, often with limited resources.
\nAs a teacher, Akim is on the frontlines of the battle to keep her young charges safe and engaged.
\n\u201cIn this weather, they get drenched in sweat; they become uneasy and stand up often. Getting them to pay attention is more difficult,\u201d she said of the five-year-olds in her care at the Senator Benigno S. Aquino Elementary School.
\nSome six million students lost up to two weeks\u2019 worth of classroom learning last year as temperatures hit a record 38.8\u00b0Celsius, according to the education department.
\nSchools reported cases of heat exhaustion, nose bleeds and hospitalizations as students struggled through lessons in classrooms without air conditioning.
\nScientists say that extreme heat is a clear marker of climate change, caused largely by burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.
\nLast year\u2019s heat was further exacerbated by the seasonal El Nino phenomenon.
\nBut even this year, nearly half Manila\u2019s schools were forced to close for two days in March when the heat index \u2013 a measure of temperature and humidity \u2013 hit \u201cdanger\u201d levels.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been reporting (the heat index) since 2011, but it\u2019s only been recently that it\u2019s become exceptionally warm,\u201d national weather service specialist Wilmer Agustin said, attributing it to \u201cEl Nino and climate change.\u201d
\nThis year, conditions in most of the country will range between \u201cextreme caution\u201d and \u201cdanger\u201d on the government\u2019s heat alert system, he said, \u201cespecially in April and May.\u201d
\nOn Friday, scores of schools in Manila were shuttered as temperatures were expected to hit 34\u00b0C, while the national weather service said the heat index for at least five provinces would hit the danger level.
\nDuring last year\u2019s closures, alternative learning helped make up some of the gap.
\nBut \u201cthe overall impact on students\u2019 education was significant,\u201d said Jocelyn Andaya, assistant education secretary for operations.
\nSo this year, a series of measures have been instated to avoid further learning loss.
\nClassroom sessions have been shortened to four hours a day \u2013 avoiding the searing midday sun \u2013 and water stations were installed in each classroom as well as at least two oscillating wall fans.
\nSome newer schools have heat-reflective roofs, and bigger ones now employ nurses.
\nJust three percent of students affected by last year\u2019s heatwaves were able to access online classes, so this year printed material was prepared for students if they must stay home.
\nEven so, Benigno Aquino school principal Noel Gelua cautioned that \u201cthere is no real alternative to face-to-face learning.\u201d
\nBut there are limits to what can be done, given the education department has a budget of just 10 billion pesos ($174 million) for climate adaptation, infrastructure and disaster readiness.
\nThe Philippines also has a perennial classroom shortage, with 18,000 more needed in the capital alone.
\nManila\u2019s public schools do two shifts per day, with about 50 students in each 63 square-meter room, exacerbating the heat problem.
\nFifth-grader Ella Azumi Araza, 11, can only attend four days a week due to the shortage.
\nOn Fridays, she studies in her family\u2019s nine-square-meter cinderblock home on a bed she shares with her younger brother, who suffers from epilepsy.
\nThree electric fans are always on in the windowless, single-room structure.
\nAs hot as it is at home, her mother Cindella Manabat still frets about conditions at school, saying that she comes home coughing.
\n\u201cI make her carry a jug of water to prevent dehydration,\u201d she said.
\nAcross the street from Benigno Aquino, eighth-graders at President Corazon C. Aquino High School aimed tiny, rechargeable fans at their bodies while taking an algebra quiz.
\nTwo of the four ceiling fans in the room had given out and the remaining two were clearly not enough for the 40 students.
\n\u201cIt is very difficult to teach in the heat,\u201d their teacher Rizzadel Manzano said.
\n\u201cMotivating them is really a challenge.\u201d
\nA school uniform requirement was ditched earlier this year, and students now wear sweatpants and T-shirts donated by the city, principal Reynora Laurenciano said.
\nBoth schools are located in a densely populated slum area called Baseco, where conditions at home can be even more dire, she added.
\n\u201cIf you ask them, they consider (school) a safer place,\u201d Laurenciano said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANILA: Kindergarten teacher Lolita Akim fires up five standing fans with three more at the ready as she fights to hold the attention of her pint-sized pupils in Manila\u2019s soaring heat. Last year, heatwaves forced millions of children in the Philippines out of school. It was the first time that soaring temperatures had caused widespread […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-471808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n