EDITORIAL — No classes doesn’t mean go out

For the nth time classes in all levels were suspended yesterday, October 12, because of the deteriorating air quality in Metro Cebu.

The local government units that issue that order were Cebu City, Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City, Talisay City, Minglanilla San Fernando, Cordova, City of Naga, Carcar City, Liloan, and Consolacion.

Until now, haze from out-of-control fires in Indonesia still reaches us when the weather conditions are right, or perhaps we should say when weather conditions are not right.

However, it would seem that while classes are out, many of those intended to be protected by the order to suspended classes are out anyway. We can see them enjoying time outside the house with friends or going to the different malls in the city, among other outside activities. So much so that some parents are starting to notice.

This would render the order to suspend classes, intended to protect the students from the haze, completely useless.

For students, no classes doesn’t mean go out. It means stay at home where your chances of breathing in the haze are minimal.

Some of them cannot be blamed. Perhaps there is nothing to do at home. Perhaps it is too hot at home because of rotational brownouts. Perhaps even their parents themselves insisted on taking them out.

It must be understood that this order is meant to protect them. The haze is a threat that cannot readily be detected. Sure, we see what looks to be dark clouds in the sky and think that the threat is up there, but whether they realize it or not they are breathing in that bad air.

The effects of the haze aren’t also palpable immediately. Respiratory illnesses do not show up overnight but over time; misleading people into thinking they are all right when they actually are not.

Class suspensions are already compounding our learning problems and online classes are not always the best solution, the last thing we need is many of our students to suddenly suffer from respiratory problems brought about by haze.