PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has signed Executive Order (EO) No. 130, establishing a new national framework for the suspension and resumption of classes and school activities to minimize learning disruptions while ensuring the safety of students and teachers.

The measure, proposed by the Department of Education (DepEd) and other government agencies, adopts a more targeted and evidence-based approach in deciding when to suspend or resume face-to-face classes, educational activities, and onsite work in public and private schools and learning centers.

Titled *Establishing a Framework for the Suspension and Resumption of Classes and Activities, and Onsite Work in Educational Institutions and Learning Centers*, the order seeks to replace blanket class suspensions with localized, risk-based decisions that consider actual conditions in individual schools and communities.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara thanked the President for recognizing the importance of keeping schools open whenever conditions allow, stressing that unnecessary class suspensions further disrupt students’ learning.

“While learner and teacher safety remains strictly non-negotiable, we can no longer rely on sweeping, blanket suspensions when a campus is dry, safe, and ready to teach,” Angara said.

He added that allowing localized suspensions and school-specific resumptions would give school heads and local government executives the legal authority to reopen campuses that have been assessed as safe without waiting for broader declarations.

Under the new policy, decisions on class suspensions and resumptions will follow three mechanisms: automatic, localized, and granular.

Automatic suspensions will take effect when hazard thresholds established by concerned government agencies are reached. These include the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB), among other competent national agencies.

Localized suspensions, meanwhile, may be declared by local chief executives based on documented risk assessments and prevailing conditions in their respective areas, in coordination with concerned government agencies and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

The framework also provides for granular decisions on the resumption of classes and school activities, allowing educational institutions assessed as safe and ready to reopen even when other schools in the same locality remain suspended.

The President likewise retains concurrent authority to suspend or resume face-to-face classes, educational activities, and onsite work whenever necessary in the interest of public safety, national security, disaster response, public health, or general welfare.

Angara emphasized that the new policy seeks to strike a balance between protecting learners and teachers from potential hazards and ensuring the continuity of education.