A YOUTH group called for the current semester’s National Service Training Program (NSTP) to be halted for the protection of students from direct exposure to sunlight.
This, as extreme weather conditions are now prevalent, while the Weather Bureau has recently recorded heat indices of above 40-degrees Celsius in various locations nationwide, posing severe health risks to both students and instructors.
As such, the Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK) has demanded for a moratorium on NSTP for all classes, in view of such high temperatures.
The activist organization likewise appealed for a mass-promotion campaign that was similarly done in 2020 with the abrupt stoppage of classes, when the government ordered a complete lockdown to avert the spread of Covid-19.
“To continue outdoor activities like NSTP is to place students all over the country in direct and imminent danger,” SPARK’s national coordinator John Lazaro said. “We do not need any more hospitalizations, or even deaths, to realize that we need to keep our students safe from extreme weather.”
Hundreds of instances of heat stroke or exhaustion among learners have been already recorded by several government agencies, including the Department of Health and Department of Education.
In fact, many have died from direct exposure to the sun, including a student-athlete from Colegio de San Agustin who was in a football tournament in April.
“We cannot look at all the damage done to students’ health and proceed with placing them directly in the heat of the sun to do community service or tedious military drills,” Lazaro explained. “Instead of pursuing a watered-down indoor-only version of NSTP, it would make the most sense to suspend the program for this semester, and give all students taking it a passing grade.”
The group’s national coordinator further stressed that such measures are only short-term solutions to the worsening weather condition.
“We cannot hide from the ever-intensifying climate crisis forever just by suspending outdoor activities, or trying to improve ventilation,” he pointed out. “Superficial targets and conservative climate action by the government is no longer acceptable. We absolutely need to make learning safe, and agency heads must quit dilly-dallying.”
The NSTP program is jointly administered by the Department of National Defense, Commission on Higher Education as well as the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.