DepEd to replace flood-ruined textbooks, modules in Bulacan

The Department of Education will reach into its buffer stocks to replace textbooks ruined by the recent flooding in Bulacan, while the cleanup of waterlogged schools continues as the first day of classes nears.

In Jonathan Andal's report on "24 Oras Weekend" on Sunday, parents, teachers and students waded through several inches of standing floodwater to continue cleaning Doña Damiana De Leon Macam Memorial Elementary School in Calumpit since typhoons hit the area weeks ago.

Dumped outside the school are flood-ruined textbooks too sodden, smelly and—in the case of modules—shredded to use.

DepEd said that its Schools Division Office in the province will request the replacements after completing an inventory of the schools' needs. The office has already made an emergency procurement of modules that will be delivered to the province by Friday, just before school starts on August 29.

"Ongoing po ang inventory ng SDO Bulacan para malaman ang specific needs ng schools na naapektuhan ng baha. Once identified, a request for replacement will be made as we have buffer stocks for textbooks," DepEd spokesperson said in a message to GMA Integrated News.

Schools that have been badly hit by floods will have to resort to blended learning to accommodate classes. At Doña Damiana, where only seven of its 25 classrooms escaped flooding, shifting classes are also being considered.

"'Yung heat ng sun na lang ang magpapahupa ng baha na 'yan," said teacher Evelyn Tongol.

"For school that remain to be flooded when classes open, we will switch the learners to blended learning," Poa said. — BM, GMA Integrated News