DepEd braces for influx of learners to Tacloban resettlement sites

TACLOBAN CITY, Nov. 10 (PNA) -- The Department of Education (DepEd) is preparing for the influx of learners to the northern relocation sites following President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to fast track transfer of families to permanent houses.

DepEd Tacloban division information officer Nilo Eder said there is an ongoing construction of classrooms in the northern part of the city, utilizing the PHP66 million outlay recently downloaded by the central government.

“Education is a basic need of these families. We have to prepare for influx of learners by building new classrooms,” Eder told PNA.

In a long term, the DepEd is seeking PHP768.93 million to set up 10 new campuses near townships intended for super typhoon Yolanda survivors. This is on top of PHP393.8 million budget meant for repair and construction of new classrooms within existing campuses.

Among the recipients of school building project is the Lucio Vivero Memorial School in New Kawayan village in this city.

Currently, the school with 450 students, has 17 teachers and classrooms. The number of students remarkably dropped after several families moved to permanent houses from nearby temporary shelter, according to school principal Raul Hilvano.

However, the number of enrollees is expected to rise in the next academic year with the ongoing construction of concrete houses nearby.

“I hope they will build more classrooms because I’m worried that my son will share a room again with more than 50 learners. It’s not anymore conducive to learning,” said Yane Circulado, one of the parents.

Aside from classrooms, another setback of some schools in the northern part of the city is the lack of clean water supply and school furniture.

“Basically, we just collect rainwater. Sometimes, we get it from water pumps nearby but it smells bad.

 Furniture is another concern. Out of my 35 students, 10 of them have no chairs,” Esperas shared.

DepEd considers transferring of chairs from less populated schools to classrooms in northern villages. (PNA) PGL/SQM/Jushua S. Marga & Yazmin Ellen C. Espina (OJTs)