Schools in storm-ravaged areas to reopen Jan. 3—Luistro

Education Secretary Armin Luistro

MANILA, Philippines—Students in areas devastated by Tropical Storm “Sendong” will return to school when classes reopen nationwide on January 3 to help them gain “a semblance of normalcy” amid disaster, Education Secretary Armin Luistro has said.

Luistro said the department has allocated P20 million out of its savings to repair damaged schools in worst-hit Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City and build makeshift classrooms pending reconstruction so that classes could resume on time.

The official has instructed DepEd engineers to work round-the-clock on damaged schools in the worst-affected areas in northern Mindanao.

The department will also engage the community in holding school cleanups, similar to the “Brigada Eskwela” nationwide school cleanup held before the opening of classes every June.

“Between now and Jan. 2, their task is to put the schools back to business in whatever way.  In areas where major, major repairs are needed, they will do makeshift classrooms in time for Jan. 3,” Luistro said.

“Because it is critical to me that the schools go back to normal, even with makeshift classrooms, and that the students have a semblance of normalcy, because that’s part of their therapy,” the official told the Inquirer.

At least P8-million in funds from the United States Agency for International Development will meanwhile be used for the rush acquisition of new school desks and other furniture, Luistro said.  The amount is a remainder of aid the US had given for rehabilitation of schools affected by previous storms.

DepEd is also working with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and concerned local government units to provide alternative shelter to affected families now housed in schools.

“The idea is that by Jan. 3, the schools are clean, there are makeshift clothes, the teachers are ready and we start classes,” Luistro said.

As soon as they return to school, students affected by Sendong will spend a week engaged in activities aimed at helping them cope with what they went through.

“The first week will be all post-trauma psychosocial intervention. That includes painting, music and a “writeshop” (writing workshop) for everyone to write their experience, what happened to them during that period,” Luistro said.

The latest DepEd damage assessment report showed that Sendong caused almost P106 million worth of damage to some 39 schools in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City, Agusan del Sur and Lanao del Sur.