SARS: SEPTEMBER SCHOOL OPENING PROPOSED

Manila, May 3, 2003 -- Senators are eyeing the resetting of the school 
calendar this year due to the threat posed by Severe Acute Respiratory 
Syndrome (SARS).

Senate President Franklin Drilon filed a bill yesterday postponing the 
opening of classes from June to September to give authorities more time to 
combat the SARS menace.

He said delaying the opening of classes would prevent the unnecessary 
exposure of millions of students to SARS.

Drilon said if a student gets infected with the killer virus, SARS could 
spread quickly since most classrooms are crowded.

He noted that in Hong Kong and China, authorities quarantined entire 
schools to prevent SARS from spreading.

Under Drilon's bill, the school year would be reset from June to March to 
September to June. The school calender would be patterned after that of the 
United States.

The measure would amend the pertinent provisions of the Administrative Code 
of 1987.

Drilon said a September to June school year would also spare students from 
getting wet and sick from rain and flooding.

He said the first three months of the current calendar  June, July and 
August  are the peak period for typhoons in the country.

It is during these months that students, parents, school authorities, and 
the public in general have to grapple with typhoons, floods, landslides, 
diseases, lack of transportation, traffic congestion, food shortage, and 
similar problems, he said.

"Revising the school calendar would benefit not only students, parents and 
school authorities but also the government and the economy," he stressed.

Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, chairman of the Senate education committee, 
said he would schedule public hearings on Drilon's proposal as soon as 
possible.

"I am open to resetting the school calendar depending on how the SARS 
situation unfolds," he said.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye, however, said that the proposal 
should be referred to the SARS Crisis Management Committee headed by Health 
Secretary Manuel Dayrit.

President Arroyo has empowered Dayrit, under Executive Order 20, to 
authorize the education department to consider possible extension of 
vacation or suspension of classes in view of the current SARS epidemic.

Offhand though, Bunye said the proposed delay in the school opening would 
have no basis since areas previously reported with SARS suspects turned out 
to be false alarms.

"So, perhaps, it would be better for the SARS committee to think and 
evaluate this and be the ones to give their recommendations to the 
President," Bunye pointed out.  (By Jess Diaz, Star)