Normalcy returning to Cagayan de Oro classroooms

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Despite the dead and the missing, classes in the elementary and secondary levels in public schools here have begun showing signs of normalcy, educators said.

Most classes are now being held in classrooms, instead of covered courts and some government facilities.

Students are also seen running around and interacting with their peers.

“The students are more cheerful now…it really helped that they were able to see their friends during the opening of classes. They are slowly getting back to normal,” Jasmin Ching, a staff at the principal’s office of the Macasandig Elementary and National High School, said.

The Department of Education (DepEd) has reported that 52 students lost their lives during the flashfloods spawned by Tropical storm “Sendong” here on December 17.

Majority of those who died lived on Isla de Oro, a sandbar that formed near the mouth of the Cagayan de Oro River, and had attended the City Central School.

The Macasandig Elementary and National High School reported 16 casualties.

Ching said Macasandig school authorities were expecting this number to rise, as more bodies were dug under the pile of mud last week in Tambo.

This school also has the most number of missing students in the city, Ching said based on a report the principal’s office got from teachers.

As of Friday, the number of missing students at the Macasandig Elementary School was 28 but citywide, the number was 75.

Ching said in their school, students’ attendance has increased since classes resumed, and that they were now following the regular 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. schedule.

Myrna Motoomull, city schools division superintendent, said students have done fairly well this week, as compared to January 3, when they first reported back to their classes.

In Iligan City, 36 school children had died and 122 more remained missing.

Tina Lomoljo of the Mindanao Emergency Response Network (MERN) said that in the series of psychosocial support sessions they conducted in various evacuation camps, they observed that many children lost interest in attending classes.

“Many children need to be made interested with school again,” Lomoljo said.

Dr. Alice Ebgracia-Anghay, DepEd information officer in Iligan, said based on their monitoring, about a fifth of children enrolled in 29 elementary and secondary schools affected by the flood have not returned to their classes.

Meanwhile, authorities are closely monitoring the case of 19 children who were orphaned by the flashfloods.

Grace Saquilabon, city social welfare officer, said the children were currently in the care of their next of kin.

For six months, social workers will perform “post-disaster care service” by regularly checking how these children individually adjusted and get along with their new families, she added.