NORTHERN Iloilo Polytechnic State College West Campus in Estancia town, Iloilo, has served as evacuation center for 2,000 residents despite the damage it sustained during Supertyphoon “Yolanda.” NESTOR P. BURGOS JR.
CEBU CITY—For Stephanie Prevendido-Gallardo, the commencement exercises today, Saturday, will hopefully close the most trying school year in her more than nine years as a teacher.
For the past four months, Gallardo had been helping her pupils at Concepcion Central Elementary School in Concepcion town in Iloilo recover from the horrors and devastation left by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” that struck on Nov. 8 last year.
“I’m a very optimistic person. I do my best to make my pupils see the good in every situation. When classes resumed, I acted as if nothing bad happened. I believe the best thing to do was accept everything and not dwell on the past,” said Gallardo, who teaches 166 Grade 6 pupils.
Concepcion, about 109 kilometers northeast of Iloilo City, was among the northern Iloilo towns worst hit by the supertyphoon.
The supertyphoon, the strongest recorded to hit land, destroyed or damaged 17,500 public school classrooms in the Visayas and Palawan, according to the Department of Education.
Teachers have been at the forefront in helping schoolchildren continue with their schooling and deal with the devastation.
None of Gallardo’s pupils and their families was hurt but the supertyphoon destroyed or damaged many houses including hers in Barangay Lo-ong, near the shoreline.
The door of her classroom was split in half and many books were wet because of the damaged roof.
Four months after, there are still classrooms with broken partitions, doors and windows. Damaged galvanized iron sheets still need to be replaced.
Even as they continue to rebuild their school, teachers are coping with the death of their fellow teacher Rogelio Lardera.
Lardera, 52, a volunteer in the municipal rescue team, died while bringing residents to the evacuation center in the town proper.
A tree branch broke and hit him, causing him to fall from the dump truck which was carrying mostly children evacuees. One of evacuees was also hit in the chest and died.
“We will truly miss him. The pupils were also sad because he was one of the best teachers in school,” Gallardo said.
Storytelling
In Daanbantayan town, northern Cebu, games and storytelling helped students recover.
“I asked the children to tell stories about their experiences and I gave them time to play so they could have fun,” said Jefferson Arrozal who teaches at Bateria Elementary School.
Arrozal said it was at first difficult to deal with his pupils. “How could I make them cheerful when their houses were destroyed or damaged? When I told them not to lose hope, I was also telling that to myself,” he said.
The strong winds brought by Yolanda blew off the roof of about 90 percent of classrooms in Daanbantayan, located at the northern tip of Cebu Island.
Arrozal’s house was among those destroyed by the supertyphoon. But he said being a victim himself made it easier to guide students recover from their experience.
Even in schools less affected by the supertyphoon, teachers also dealt with the impact of the tragedy.
Jay-Ar Panoy, a teacher at St. Augustine International School in Calbayog City in Samar, said many residents including children were gripped with tsunami scares days after the supertyphoon.
But the tragedy also brought the best among students in his school who donated their things especially toys for the children in Tacloban.
Catherine Enojas said she had stressed to her students at Carles Central School in Iloilo not to be burdened by material losses. “What is important is that we are all alive,” she told her pupils.
But she herself has to cope with difficulties due to heavy damage in their school. The roof of her new classroom was blown away and all her visual aids were destroyed. “I cried in frustration because I had to start from scratch again,” she said.
When classes resumed on Nov. 25 last year or nearly three weeks after the supertyphoon, she had to comfort her pupils who became restless and scared when it rained.
She also had to hold her classes in their agriculture room and at one time, hold an umbrella to protect herself from the rain because the roof of the room was damaged.
The lack of electricity that ran for weeks also made teaching difficult, according to Karen Mae Ybañez, a grade school teacher at the City of Bogo Science and Arts Academy in Cebu.
“It was difficult to prepare lesson plans and to hold classes without teaching aids like projectors. We were also advised not to give homework to the students because of lack of electricity,” she said.
Ybañez said teachers also had to hold longer classes daily and makeup classes on Saturdays to cover the days without classes.
While many were focusing on the repair and rehabilitation of schools, teachers and pupils of Botongon Elementary School in Estancia town in Iloilo were still holding classes in tents and makeshift classrooms.
The school situated along the coastline was among those contaminated by an oil spill from a power barge and declared part of a no-build zone.
Leo Amisco, a math teacher, said the temporary classrooms were not conducive for learning because only blackboards served as partitions.
The supertyphoon destroyed five classrooms, the principal’s office and computer room in the school. About 700 books and 450 chairs were washed away or destroyed.
Amid the challenge of continuously guiding their students and coping with their losses, the teachers said the tragedy taught them valuable lessons in life and as mentors.
“With everything I’ve been through, I learned to value life more. I am also more appreciative of my vocation and my role as an educator and friend to my pupils,” said Gallardo.
Arrozal said his experience inspired him to be a better teacher.
Ybañez, on her third year as a teacher, said the supertyphoon made her realize how fleeting life is. “I realized that we live temporary lives in this world. Everything could be gone in an instant so we must do something good not for ourselves but for others,” she said.
This realization also made her love her work more. “I want to be a teacher forever,” she said.