Central Luzon flood effect: No sem break for 700,000

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines—More than 700,000 students of public schools in Pampanga and Bulacan would have to cancel a week-long semestral break to make up for two weeks of classes lost since Sept. 26 when Typhoons “Pedring” and “Quiel” battered Central Luzon, an education official said.

“They shouldn’t have a sem break this time,” said Teofila Villanueva, regional director of the Department of Education, referring to 498,004 elementary pupils and 238,851 high school students.

Their schools are in villages near the banks of the Pampanga River, which was supposed to drain water from more than 30 rivers in Central Luzon to Manila Bay.

Floods lasted for two weeks in low-lying villages of Calumpit, Hagonoy and Pulilan in Bulacan and Arayat, Candaba, Sta. Ana, San Luis, San Simon, Apalit, Minalin, Masantol and Macabebe in Pampanga, reports from the Office of the Civil Defense said.

Villanueva said DepEd canceled the semester break so students could complete the required 180 school days per school year.

Schools could make up for the lost days by extending classes to an hour or holding Saturday classes. Classes were suspended when schools were flooded or used as evacuation centers.

A total of 2,063 classrooms in the region’s seven provinces and 10 cities needed immediate repairs. At least 61 needed to be rebuilt, the DepEd’s Rapid Disaster Assessment Report said.

Damage to school buildings reached P360.4 million; textbooks, P12.2 million; furniture, P26.24 million; computers, P7.6 million and other facilities, P54,340.

Half of the P406.4 million in damages was reported in Pampanga, DepEd reports said.

The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said strong rains and winds and floods displaced or threatened 2.4 million residents in 1,689 villages in 91 towns and 11 cities in Central Luzon.

The disaster sent 20,216 people fleeing to evacuation centers for safety, killed 48 people, hurt nine others and left three missing.

Officials called this year’s floods the worst in almost 40 years in Central Luzon.