Posts Tagged ‘DepEd’

My Kids’ School Was Suspended For A(H1N1)

This post will serve as replacement to deleted post I posted yesterday regarding a school which already have 1 confirmed case of A(H1N1) and happens to be the school of my children.

I don’t see anything wrong with my post yesterday except a small part of it mentioned the school name (used it also on the post title). A screenshot of the post was saved on my computer.

Last weekend, CHED (Commission on Higher Education) announced the official class opening was moved to June 15 for colleges and universities. On the contrary, DepEd won’t follow CHED’s class suspension according to ABS CBN website (link is no longer available from their site).

It is clear that my purpose is not about the school per se but the idea that DepEd should as well follow CHED’s reschedule of class opening to June 15 especially for private schools. We have to admit that some private school students (elementary and high school) belong to “can afford” families that having their summer vacation abroad is normal. My concern are the students who will get infected of the virus by close contact to student who just came from travel abroad.

Panic? The moment I received the SMS, naturally I got worried of my children same as the many parents waiting outside of the school waiting for class suspension. According to DOH guidelines, If one school has confirmed positive case of novel influenza A(H1N1), the school principal can declare the suspension of classes. You can download the DOH Guideline for schools here for additional information.

I was lucky to contact the school after many times of getting a busy tone, that was around 11AM. I haven’t got the chance to know who I spoke with on the other line, I asked her if its true. Other parents said that the student was confirmed positive of A(H1N1). She said, its true but the student wasn’t able to go to school at all. So, there’s no reason to suspend class, right?

Odd? There are many hearsays, speculations about the issue. I know that it was a girl, a 3rd year high school student. I heard that the girl went to a mall with her classmates/friends recently. First day of school was Thursday (June 4) and suspended at 12nn because of the bad weather, no classes in Friday. At 6PM, the news spread like fire among students for class suspension and will resume in June 22. I called up the school again and its true.

What’s the real score? I received a comment yesterday from post yesterday (already deleted) which I read only now saying “The student already went to school last thursday, apparently the school doctor sent home 8 students who had a vacation abroad, including the girl who was later confirmed positive of the A H1N1 virus. Classes are now suspended and will resume on June 22“. Time commented was 11:30pm.

To avoid further speculations among parents and students, in behalf of the parents, I’m requesting a memo informing us (the parents and students) of the real incident. There are loopholes in the incident and we deserve to know what really happened.

Still, I don’t know if this case is already counted to already 46 confirmed A(H1N1) cases in the Philippines.

No Classes On My Birthday!

Start of school usually starts on first week of June, this year most schools started in June 1, my kids’ first day of school was yesterday. During my student days, I was guilty of wishing for an early opening of classes so my classmates could sing me a birthday song and my teachers could greet me. That wish wasn’t granted because there are NO school opening started as early as June 5 during my student years. Mababaw ba? That’s who I am.

On the contrary, I never wished for early school opening (for my children) because we didn’t make the most of summer vacation this year, rainy days… budget… and inheritance problems with my relatives. As usual, I woke up as early as 5 am to prepare my kids for school and I turned on the TV to wait for weather report. TeleRadyo interviewed Deped Secretary Jesli Lapus, “No classes for elementary and high school students in NCR (National Capital Region) because of heavy monsoon rains and strong winds which may trigger flashfloods and landslides”.

I was thinking of updating all my blogs today since school day is my normal blogging day when my kids are out for school. I guess, my blogging schedule will be back to normal again next week if I don’t have terrible DSL connection like yesterday. And since there are no classes today, I might be out for lunch or dinner with my kids. Chow!