ILOILO City – Severe Tropical Storm “Paeng” did not spare public elementary and secondary schools in Western Visayas, damaging a total of 612 classrooms.
As of Nov. 8, 60 classrooms were totally damaged, 102 incurred major damage and 450 sustained minor damage, a rapid assessment conducted by the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Cluster of the Department of Education (DepEd) Region 6 showed.
DepEd-6 also listed 151 damaged toilets and 131 damaged handwashing facilities, said DepEd-6 information officer Hernani Escullar Jr.
For non-infrastructure, 4,327 school furniture, 691,453 learning references and 3,470 computer equipment were damaged.
“Ang tanan nga damages gina-coordinate na ini sang mga schools division offices sa region kag kita sa region are coordinating with the central office on how to provide assistance sa pag-repair and replace sang sini nga damaged facilities and learning references,” said Escullar.
The Schools Division of Aklan has the most number of totally damaged classrooms at 26, followed by Iloilo with 18 and Guimaras, six.
For classrooms with major damage, Aklan had 59, followed by Negros Occidental with 14 and Guimaras with 12.
The Schools Division of Iloilo, meantime, has the most number of classrooms that sustained minor damage at 138, followed by Aklan with 136, and Antique, eight.
As to the non-infrastructure damages, here is the breakdown per province:
* Aklan – 2,186 damaged furnitures, 377,772 damaged learning references and 113 damaged computer equipment;
* Capiz – 929 damaged furnitures and 262,957 damaged learning references;
* Iloilo – 838 damaged learning references and 3,222 damaged computer equipment;
* Antique – 19,503 damaged learning references and 61 damaged computer equipment.
Despite these damages in schools, DepEd-6 assured that classes continue and are not hampered.
Escullar noted that the totally damaged classrooms are considered not safe for learners.
To continue with the classes, some schools are using temporary learning shelter while others are allowed to implement distant learning.
The same is also being done by schools that had been used as evacuation centers by the displaced families during the typhoon, he added.
“Distant learning is allowed as long as they have the approval of schools division superintendent and the DepEd regional office is informed,” said Escular.
As of this writing, the DepEd regional information officer has yet to release the estimated cost of all the damages in schools as evaluation and assessment are still ongoing./PN
