Leyte, Samar students return to schools in ruins

EVACUEES continue to take temporary shelter at Rizal Central School in Tacloban City on Sunday even as classes resume in the city today, almost two months since Supertyphoon “Yolanda” toppled schools and houses on Nov. 8 last year. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

TACLOBAN CITY—After almost two months of being away from schools, students in typhoon-hit areas return today to school campuses that are mostly still in ruins.

Today’s activities will focus mainly on the accounting of students, as regular classes are not expected to start just yet, said Elena de Luna, former spokesperson of the Department of Education in Eastern Visayas and now assistant schools division superintendent for Eastern Samar.

De Luna said they could not expect regular classes to start today in typhoon-hit areas since most schools in Eastern Visayas are not yet ready to hold classes, as these are also still being used as evacuation centers.

The regional office of the Department of Public Works and Highways earlier reported that school buildings in 803 public elementary and high schools in Leyte, Samar and Eastern Samar provinces were destroyed when Supertyphoon “Yolanda” smashed through central Philippines on Nov. 8, 2013.

In Tacloban City, schools that still doubled as evacuation centers are also being readied for today’s resumption of classes. A dozen public schools in this city remain as temporary shelters to 8,305 people.

At Rizal Central School here, the 1,413 persons temporary taking shelter there were asked to moved out to give way to students who will attend their classes today.

The evacuees would temporarily take shelter in tents provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) located at the grounds of Rizal Park in front of the school.

“The arrangement is that they will stay in their tents but return to the classrooms at night. The houses of the majority of these families were completely washed out by Yolanda,” city social welfare officer Misericordia Gallano said on Sunday.

De Luna said they expected the students to come with nothing, as their school bags and supplies could have been destroyed during the typhoon. She said they hoped that humanitarian groups would be giving learning kit to sthese students.

Personnel from school divisions in the region spared by Yolanda would conduct “Brigida Eskwela” in schools hit by the typhoons. These Brigada Eskwela volunteers would help in the clearing and cleaning operations, De Luna said.

Students from Yolanda-hit areas will also be given psychosocial debriefing to address the trauma they suffered due to Yolanda, De Luna said.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona, during his visit in Tacloban last Friday, said over 1,000 students in various evacuation centers here were given stress debriefing. De Luna said public school teachers in Yolanda-hit areas had also received stress debriefing sessions from the DSWD.