San Jose National HS changes class schedules to cope with power crisis

THE San Jose National High School in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro will implement a new schedule of classes to cope with the frequent power outages. Principal Mariphe Dusaran of San Jose National High School told The Manila Times on Tuesday that class schedules were adjusted after incidents of heat exhaustion among teachers and students, resulting in headaches, abdominal pain and fainting, were recorded because of the extreme summer heat made worst by the lack of electricity to fire up fans and air-conditioning to cool down the congested classrooms. She said that two students were brought to the hospital on Wednesday. She noted that this is the first time that students attended face-to-face classes during summertime. "The classrooms are full and the frequent power blackouts have made it worst. The generators could no longer function fully. We are actually saving some of the generator's fuel for those students who attend the evening classes. They have more need for lights," said Dusaran. Based on the school incident report, beginning in March, a total of 145 students were recorded to have severe headaches without fever, nine students had dizziness, seven suffered from an asthma attack, nine students had difficulty of breathing and hyperventilation, and 45 students had abdominal pain. The day shift will start from 6:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. and the night shift will be from 3 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.