DepEd: 223 classrooms totally damaged due to Kristine

The Department of Education has recorded 223 classrooms totally damaged and 415 partially damaged due to Severe Tropical Storm Kristine, says Secretary Sonny Angara.

Nearly 19 million students, meanwhile, were not able to go to school in the past two days. @gmanews pic.twitter.com/pV628Q8cnN

— Giselle Ombay (@giselleombay_) October 24, 2024

A total of 223 classrooms were totally damaged, while 415 others were partially damaged due to Severe Tropical Storm Kristine, the Department of Education (DepEd) said Thursday.

In an ambush interview, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said the field offices also reported damage in school furniture and computer sets.

“So ‘yung walang pasok, halos 19 million, 18.9 million ‘yung hindi pumasok the last two days. That represents almost 37,000 schools,” he said on the sidelines of an artificial intelligence (AI) conference at the University of the Philippines (UP) BGC campus.

(Nearly 19 million or 18.9 million students were not able to go to school in the last two days.)

Based on DepEd’s latest data, the initial infrastructure damage also stood at P765 million—of which P557.5 are needed for reconstruction and P207.5 are for major repairs.

Angara said that DepEd’s quick response fund and rehabilitation fund would be used for the repairs.

The Education chief also admitted to having concerns with regard to suspension of face-to-face classes due to natural disasters as it may result in further learning losses.

“Actually, nababahala na kami. So, ginawa namin is pina-collate na namin ano ‘yung number of missed number of classes. Tapos ilan ‘yung na napilitan na ma-cancel. Of those, ilan na, let's say, sabi mong nasa 20 ‘yun, ilan na ‘yung na-make up nung bata,” he told reporters.

(Actually, we are worried. So, what we did is we collated the number of missed classes then determined how many of those were forced to cancel. If there are 20 missed classes, we want to know how many make-up classes were already taken by the child.)

“Baka umabot na kasi sa punto na sobrang dami na ‘yung na-miss na [klase] hindi na nila ma-recover. So ‘yun ang concern namin ngayon dahil parang napapadalas na ‘yung mga bagyo at talagang ang importante diyan ay hindi learning loss ang nangyayari. Talagang kahit nasa bahay, merong pakinabang para sa mga estudyante sana,” he added.

(We fear that it may reach a point where there are so many missed classes and these can’t no longer be recovered. So that's our concern now because it seems like the storms are getting more frequent. The important thing here is that there’s no learning loss and even at home, they can still study.)

Angara said it is now up to principals of affected schools whether they need to set up Saturday classes to make up for the missed classes.

According to DepEd, there were also 143 schools that reported secondary hazards or incidents such as flooding and landslides.

Meanwhile, 309 schools are currently being used as evacuation centers.

Angara said the agency will revisit the policy on using schools as evacuation centers once the affected residents are in better condition.

“Kahit may policy tayo, ‘pagka nandyan na ‘yung bagyo, paano mo sasabihin na ‘wag niyong gamitin ‘yung evacuation center diba? Hindi mo masabi ‘yun. Look at what's happening now in Bicol. Paano mo sasabihin sa kanila, wala na silang bahay, wala na silang sasakyan, wala na silang mapuntahan,” he explained.

(Even if we have a policy, when the typhoon is here, how can you tell the people not to use the evacuation center, right? You can't say that. Look at what's happening now in Bicol. How can you tell them that when they no longer have houses and cars and they have nowhere to go.)

“Siguro, we'll talk about the policy after ‘pag medyo ligtas na ‘yung ating mga kababayan,” he continued.

(Maybe, we'll just talk about the policy after when our compatriots are already safe.)

Based on the revised DepEd Order 37, signed by former Education Secretary, Vice President Sara Duterte, schools may be used as an immediate evacuation site that should not last for more than 15 days in case of disasters. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News