Northern Mindanao teachers attended to students’ needs first–DepEd

MANILA, Philippines—Their school was completely wiped out by the storm but teachers of Iligan City’s Bayug Elementary School still made sure to find all their students and bring them back to class.  Many set aside their own problems—injuries, damaged homes and grief—to take care of their students.

Citing these stories, Education Secretary Armin Luistro lauded the teachers for their “acts of heroism.”

Over and above the call of duty, teachers and school officials across northern Mindanao overlooked their own woes to look after their students who were affected by Tropical Storm “Sendong,” he said.

“Even though they had their own difficulties, our teachers and principals showed heroism at a time of crisis,” Luistro said in a recent interview.

Sharing stories from the ground, Lino Rivera, DepEd Undersecretary for Regional Operations, recalled encounters with teachers in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities that drew his deep admiration.

“Bayug Elementary School was totally wiped out, as in only the flooring was left.  But on the first day of class (on Jan. 3), it registered one of the highest attendance of 60 or 70 percent,” said Rivera.

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

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

Luistro recalled one school principal who continued working despite a leg wound, giving priority to her students.

“I cannot thank 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,” he said.

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

“They were trying to salvage whatever they could. 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.  They wanted to see if something could still be done to salvage it,” Rivera said.

But officials noted that more teachers were starting to show signs of psychological and emotional stress as the situation slowly stabilized in their schools.

The DepEd is now working with the Department of Health and humanitarian agencies in northern Mindanao to provide post-trauma counseling to teachers.

“Our teachers and principals themselves … they’re victims, but they’re transcending their own problems,” Rivera said.

“The same teachers who experienced trauma are the ones going out of their way to make sure that the children are in school, and are helping children deal with their trauma,” he added.

Sendong triggered deadly flash floods in northern Mindanao a month ago, killing 1,257 people and damaging more than 51,000 houses, latest government figures showed.

The DepEd’s post-disaster report said the storm caused P114.9 million worth of damage to school buildings, including lost learning materials and equipment.

The toll affected close to 37,000 students and about 2,000 teachers and school officials. Seven perished, 318 lost their homes and 1,346 had flood-damaged homes.