(Last of two parts)
MOST classrooms in Ilagan and Tumauini towns in Isabela province that were destroyed or damaged by Typhoon “Juan” last year have been rebuilt, or repaired through the help of donors.
Dr. Benito Tumamao, DepEd director in Cagayan Valley, said the construction of school buildings in the coastal towns of Isabela that were on the path of the typhoon last year would be completed by September.
Aladino Gonzales, principal of Maconacon Central School, said at least four tents donated by the United Nations Children’s Fund would be used as additional classrooms because the four newly built classrooms could not accommodate all students.
In Palanan town, classrooms at Palanan Central School and nearby schools have been repaired, said District Schools Supervisor Rosalinda Bernardo, who also oversees schools in Divilacan, Maconacon and Dinapigue.
Tumamao said the DepEd has been coordinating with village officials in the region so students can use barangay halls and government buildings.
In Laoag City, around 800 schoolchildren found their classrooms flattened when they went back to school yesterday. This is part of the conversion of a public school lot to a shopping mall.
DepEd officials said pupils of Laoag Central School held classes in an office building vacated by the city division schools office and the Girl Scouts of the Philippines building sitting next to it in downtown Laoag.
Vilma Eda, assistant city division schools chief, said a contingency plan was set in place before school ended in March in preparation for construction work at the more than one-hectare school compound.
Based on an agreement between the city government and Puregold, part of the school compound would be converted to a mall,while a section of the property would be reserved for school buildings.
Eda said they have been assured that classroom construction would be completed by the end of July.
“We may also adopt class shifting if the temporary classrooms will not be enough. Classes will be broken up into two shifts per day,” she said.
Except for the Gabaldon-type main building, all structures in the school lot were demolished. The new classrooms will be built on the lot’s western section, while the mall will occupy the eastern wing.
Trekking mountains
In the Cordillera, a reason some schoolchildren in many upland towns in the region enrol years later than the required age for Grade 1 is that they have to grow bigger and strong enough to climb mountains, and cross creeks to reach the nearest school.
This makes the compulsory preschool an added challenge for families whose houses are far from schools.
With the compulsory preschool education now, teachers and officers of the Parents-Teachers Community Association of Kibungan Central School in Kibungan, Benguet, have been hopping from one village to the other informing families to enrol their 5-year-old children in preschool.
Their campaign succeeded. Some 50 preschool children have enlisted at the Kibungan Central School, said principal Molly Miguel-Ablaza.
But Ablaza said the required preschool education would be “an added challenge and sacrifice” for preschool children and their parents from remote sub-villages, which are at least an hour to a two-hour walk to the school in Barangay Poblacion.
Schoolchildren from the sub-village of Liwen, for example, have to wake up at 5 a.m., take a quick breakfast and start climbing for an hour-and-a-half to the Poblacion. With a 5-year-old in tow, the climb becomes slower, parents said.
Education officials are expecting more than 400,000 students to troop to elementary and high schools in the Cordillera this year. The number includes kindergarten students and those studying in private schools.
Josefina Tamundong, DepEd regional director, said school buildings have been prepared for the opening of classes through the agency’s Brigada Eskwela.
School buildings damaged by Typhoon “Pepeng” in Benguet in 2009 have also been repaired.
At Bangen Elementary School in Bokod, Benguet, a single bulb provides light for a classroom shared by Grades 1 and 2 pupils. Since the school compound was buried by a massive landslide triggered by Pepeng, the power line to the school was never reconnected.
“Last school year we used extension cords to power the classroom. The cords are plugged in the wall sockets of my house,” said Lolita Jose, a teacher who lives a few meters from the school.
She said she did not mind paying part of the school’s electric consumption.
Two years after the typhoon, the school used by 47 children will begin classes with a new two-story building, and a set of new bathrooms.
Completed only in March, the new building still has to be painted. It has four rooms, two of which will house the library and the office for four teachers.
“At least my combined class of Grades 5 and 6 will not be using a tent anymore,” Jose said.
Lack of teachers
In La Union, public school officials worry about the lack of teachers.
Bernardo Rombawa, principal of San Fernando South Central School, said a law that gives priority to the hiring of teachers in schools in their home barangay prevents them from hiring the best teachers.
“Private schools get the cream of the crop. Public schools, on the other hand, have to make do with teachers of lower caliber because of this law,” Rombawa said.
Rombawa said this policy would be advantageous if every barangay in the country has schools. Teachers applying in a school outside of their village can only be hired if there are no applicants from that village.
Teachers in the city also lamented that they have to spend their own money to prepare instructional materials that should have been shouldered by DepEd.
In Nueva Ecija, Tarcila Javier, provincial schools division superintendent, said the province also lacks teachers because it has only been allotted by the government 129 teaching positions for this school year.
The province has 604 elementary and 98 secondary schools, she said. Reports by Armand Galang, Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Charles Keith, Cristina Arzadon, Desiree Caluza, Elmer Kristian Dauigoy, Maurice Malanes, Robert Gonzaga, Tonette Orejas, Villamor Visaya Jr., and Yolanda Sotelo.