Prompting the Department of Education (DepEd) to launch rapid disaster response operations.
According to a report on August 14, the recent Enhanced Southwest Monsoon rains, which was powered by the consecutive typhoons Luis and Maymay, affected eight regions, with an estimated 8.4 million students and 365,308 DepEd staff having daily school activities interrupted due to the suspension of in-person classes in 12,477 public schools.
Thus, the DepEd has laid out immediate recovery needs, with Education Secretary Sonny Angara stressing that the Department is moving quickly to prevent disruptions to learning and to repair damaged facilities.
“Unang-una sa lahat, ang kaligtasan ng ating mga mag-aaral, guro, at kawani ang aming pangunahing prayoridad,” he emphasized. “Ngunit habang sinisigurado natin ang kanilang seguridad, hindi natin pwedeng hayaang matigil nang matagal ang pag-aaral ng ating mga kabataan.”
The agency has since utilized the first tranche of recovery funds under the DepEd Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service (DRRMS) has begun to be processed.
The disaster recovery framework covers clean-up and clearing operations funds for 1,244 affected schools, as well as minor repair funds for the renovation of 4,259 classrooms that sustained minor structural damage.
Currently, 230 public schools are currently being used as evacuation centers sheltering 6,840 families across 837 classrooms.
Overall, 1,423 classrooms sustained major damage while 1,395 were completely destroyed.
Moreover, damage to 16,981 learning materials, 11,151 school chairs, and 579 units of IT equipment were also recorded.
In areas where classrooms are dangerous or not yet usable due to flooding or because they are being used as evacuation centers, schools were allowed to implement Alternative Delivery Modes (ADM) at present.
DepEd also told that it continues to coordinate with local governments and regional disaster management councils to monitor weather conditions, expedite the dispatch of aid, and manage the cleanup of public schools.
