The heat is on this summer, and the sheer lack of air-conditioning units in classrooms is just one of the reasons why children should be on vacation and not sweltering in schools.

Thus, said House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro as she asked the Department of Education (DepEd) to revert to the old April-May summer vacation schedule for students.

"Reverting the summer vacation of students to April-May at the soonest time possible would be best since students and teachers are now suffering the intolerable heat in jampacked classrooms," Castro, a Makabayan solon, said in a statement Friday, March 31.

"Sa sobrang taas ng heat index ngayong panahon ng climate change hindi talaga safe para sa mga teachers at estudyante ang magklase sa mga malapugon nilang mga classroom (The hear index amid climate change is so high that it's not safe for teachers and students to hold classes in these oven-like classrooms)," she said.

"Tignan na lang natin  yung mga nahimatay na bata sa isang public school sa Laguna na di kinaya ang init sa panahong ito (Just look at the case of the kids who fainted from the heat in a public school in Laguna)," she said.

The results of an online survey conducted by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) on 11,706 public school teachers nationwide from March 24 to 27, 2023 indicated that 87 percent of students cannot focus on their lessons due to intolerable heat in classrooms.

The heavy reliance on electric fans for ventilation is insufficient, as only 1 percent of classrooms have air conditioners and 2 percent rely on natural ventilation.

Moreover, only 0.5 percent of respondents deemed their classroom conditions as pleasant, while 67 percent noted that the heat was intolerable.

Meanwhile, about 37 percent said that the summer heat triggered the existing medical conditions of teachers and students. There are 40 percent of respondents who noted that more learners have been missing classes since the summer months began.

"Halatang hindi inaral mabuti batay sa kondisyon ng Pilipinas as a climate-vulnerable country ang paglipat ng school calendar (Obviously, the tweaking of the school calendar wasn't studied carefully based on the condition of the Philippines as a climate-vulnerable country)," Castro said.

"Para lang makasabay sa globalized trend, academic calendar shift agad agad. Poor planning talaga at ang kawawa na naman ay ang mga estudyante at mga guro (The academic calendar was quickly shifted just to follow the globalized trend. Students and teachers are pitiful because of this poor planning)," she added, in an obvious dig at DepEd.

The Covid-19 pandemic had a huge impact on the existing school calendar.