Education officials hail teachers’ heroism after in Sendong disaster

MANILA, Philippines—Although the school was wiped out, the  teachers of Iligan City’s Bayug Elementary School made sure they found every student and brought them back to class.  Many set aside their own problems—wounds, lost homes and loved ones—to take care of their students.

Beyond the call of duty, teachers and school officials across Northern Mindanao ignored their own personal woes to look after students affected by Tropical Storm Sendong in acts of heroism not lost on education officials.

“I’m very happy because even though they themselves were having difficulties, our teachers and principals showed heroism at the time of crisis,” said Education Secretary Armin Luistro in a recent interview.

Sharing stories from the disaster area, Lino Rivera,  undersecretary of education for regional operations, noted encounters with teachers in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City that made him admire teachers more.

“Bayug Elementary School was totally wiped out, as in only the flooring was left.  But on the first day of class (on January 3), they registered one of the highest attendances, at I think 60 or 70 percent,” Rivera said.

Bayug was the first school to register complete attendance out of all Sendong-hit schools this month since the resumption of classes.

“You would expect that since their school was wiped out, they will have a low turnout.  But what teachers did was, between the disaster and January 3, in spite of their own sufferings, they went around evacuation centers looking for students and inviting them to come to class,” Rivera told the Inquirer.

Luistro himself  recalled one school principal who ignored a leg wound despite the risk of disease and gave priority to the students.

“I cannot thank the heroism of our teachers and principals enough, because they really have had no rest. One principal who had a leg wound decided not to go to the doctor just to make sure every student in the school was accounted for,” Luistro said.

Rivera also recalled seeing two teachers wading through deep mud to retrieve the school’s computer.

“They were trying to salvage whatever they could. So I saw these two male teachers, they were hauling out something covered in mud.… I didn’t realize at first that it was a computer unit.  They wanted to see if something could still be done to salvage it,” Rivera said.

DepEd is working with the Department of Health and humanitarian agencies in Northern Mindanao to provide more post-trauma counseling to teachers.  Officials noted that more teachers were starting to show signs of psychological and emotional stress as the situation slowly stabilized in their schools.

“Our teachers and principals themselves, they’re victims, but they’re transcending their own problems,” Rivera said. “The same teachers who have experienced the trauma are the ones going out of their way to make sure that children are in school, helping children deal with their trauma.”

Tropical Storm Sendong triggered deadly flash floods in Northern Mindanao a month ago, killing some 1,257 people and damaging or destroying more than 51,000 houses, latest government figures showed.

DepEd’s post-disaster report showed that the storm left P114.9 million in losses and damage to  school buildings, learning materials and equipment.

The toll on DepEd included close to 37,000 affected students and almost 2,000 teachers and school officials, among whom seven perished, 318 lost their homes and 1,346 had flood-damaged homes.