INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines –Classes in at least 25,000 schools affected by typhoon “Glenda” (international name Rammasun) have resumed with a few resorting to makeshift learning spaces in lieu of damaged classrooms and lecture mergers.
According to the Department of Education (DepEd), all 117 school divisions out of 162 in 12 regions affected by “Glenda” have continued classes, except for a handful of schools that are still conducting clearing operations.
Two more school divisions, particularly in Bacoor and another municipality in Cavite province, were added to the department’s previous count of 115 school divisions affected by Glenda in the regions of the Cordillera Administrative Region, Caraga, Metro Manila, as well as in the regions of Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, and the Western, Central, and Eastern Visayas.
Education Secretary Armin Luistro earlier said that his agency has given priority to ensuring the immediate resumption of classes, adding that quick fixes have been resorted to by the DepEd to ensure that students continue with their classes in makeshift spaces during the building of permanent classrooms.
Luistro said that the “quick fix” plan was a lesson learned last year from “Yolanda” and the DepEd had P650 million available in its quick response fund for the construction of makeshift classrooms in preparation for permanent ones.
Luistro has assured that there would be no need yet for makeup classes because the one or two-day class suspension was still within the grace period for the required number of school days in the first grading period.