DepEd activates '4H' protocol for 6.5 million students affected by monsoon rains

To protect learners and school personnel while maintaining educational continuity, the Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday activated its Education in Emergencies framework through the "4H" protocol following widespread suspensions of in-person classes.

The move comes as heavy rains driven by the enhanced southwest monsoon (habagat) forced 10,029 schools nationwide to suspend face-to-face instruction, impacting more than 6.5 million learners and nearly 289,000 teaching and non-teaching personnel.

DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara emphasized that the 4H protocol—comprising Hinto (Pause), Hinga (Breathe), Hinay (Ease), and Hayo (Proceed)—is designed to balance safety with learning delivery rather than enforce rigid academic demands during crises.

“Kapag malakas ang ulan, baha ang daan, o may risk sa safety ng learners at teachers, hindi puwedeng one-size-fits-all ang decision,” Angara said. (“When there are heavy rains, flooding, or safety risks to learners and teachers, a one-size-fits-all decision is not applicable.”)

DepEd clarified that learning continuity should not mean forcing regular schoolwork under unsafe or high-stress conditions.

“Iyan ang layunin ng 4H framework—gabayan ang schools kung kailan tutuloy, kailan babagalan, kailan hihinga, at kailan kailangang huminto muna,” Angara added. (“That is the goal of the 4H framework: to guide schools on when to move forward, when to slow down, when to take a breath, and when to temporarily pause.”)

The 4H framework outlines specific operational modes based on emergency severity:

Hinto (Pause): Applied when immediate safety or basic needs are at risk. All academic activities are halted to prioritize disaster response, essential relief, and personal safety.

Hinga (Breathe): Activated to allow students and staff to recover from stress or displacement. Schools focus on psychosocial support, well-being checks, and light asynchronous tasks. Formal submissions and strict academic deadlines are suspended.

Hinay (Ease): Applied when light learning can resume safely in a modified, teacher-led format—either online or through self-learning modules—taking into account local connectivity and power supply.

Hayo (Proceed): Denotes the full restoration of normal learning operations once safe conditions return.

Alongside the protocol, DepEd directed all schools to update their Learning and Service Continuity Plans and closely coordinate with local government units (LGUs), disaster risk reduction agencies, and DepEd field offices.

-Paraluman News with a report from the Philippine News Agency