EDITORIAL - Many disruptions, no easy answers

Our learners just can’t seem to catch a break. As a normal course of nature, their classes are regularly interrupted by typhoons and flashfloods caused by heavy rains. Then came this rash of shooting and bomb threats against several schools.

And now this haze from wildfires in Indonesia, allegedly started by people who want to clear land for agricultural purpose but enhanced and made difficult to put out by the effects of global warming.

According to a story in this newspaper, several local government units in Cebu suspended face-to-face classes in public schools yesterday, September 3, as worsening air quality caused by haze pushed Metro Cebu deeper into the “acutely unhealthy” range, as per monitoring by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau in Central Visayas.

Some local government units have also taken the precaution of canceling classes today, September 4 for the same reason.

Perhaps it’s also right to say our learners are getting too many breaks; too many breaks that might affect their education.

Don’t get us wrong, we aren’t blaming anyone here for this situation. The wildfires were caused by people in another country who likely didn’t see the fires escalating beyond control, and the school shutdowns called for by local government units or by the school authorities themselves are a reasonable response to such a health threat.

It’s always better to err on the side of caution, but it must also be said that this, along with the other disruptors, may further negatively impact the education of our learners.

Because while online classes are still taking place, it should be pointed that interacting via electronic devices will never be on par with the quality of interaction and learning face-to-face learning delivers. And we don’t have to mention again just how the quality of the education of our learners has been deteriorating over the years.

So what are we to do in such situations? This isn’t easy to answer considering that the safety of our learners must come first.