BAY, Laguna, Philippines?The gates of the Bay Central Elementary School here are filled with laundry, and every school building, and hallway, teem with evacuees and children running around.

This is the condition in at least six schools in this town which are either still under water or filled with evacuees, forcing teachers to hold classes in the town?s church, an unfinished municipal building, covered courts and other alternative venues.

Three schools in Barangays San Isidro, Tagumpay and San Antonio are still under water while at least three more schools, including the Galvez Memorial National High School and the Bay Central Elementary School, are housing evacuees, said Anastacia Erasga, municipal social welfare and development officer.

Until now, 1,224 of 4,792 families displaced by Tropical Storm ?Ondoy? are still in evacuation centers, mostly schools, said Erasga.

Melinda Tolentino, school principal, said evacuees started arriving in their school on Sept. 26, occupying all 17 school buildings.

As of yesterday, 363 families were still in the school and teachers held classes in a conference hall and one classroom vacated by evacuees.

On Oct. 7 the school began holding classes in the town?s church, convent and vacant spaces of the Liceo de Bay, a church-based school, for Grades 1-6.

The school has 1,599 pupils, she said, but because of the floods, many have stopped going to school.

Tolentino said only a few families have left the evacuation center, some coming back when it rains.

?We don?t want it to look like we are ordering them to leave,? she said.

Tolentino said evacuees were supposed to stay in the school only until Oct. 17 but this was not likely as another storm is approaching.

Eleuterio Bargola, 59, said he and his extended family can?t leave the school yet because water was still waist-deep in his home.

?The water is foul-smelling,? he said.

?We want to leave but we have nowhere else to go,? he said.

Myra Padrid, a Grade 4 teacher, said the church is not conducive to learning because there is no blackboard, their voices echo, and the teachers have to shout to be heard.

Classes stop when there are necrological services. Clarice Colting-Pulumbarit, Inquirer Southern Luzon