Schools hit by 'Pepito' to be monitored daily

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education has ordered all its field offices affected by Typhoon Pepito to submit daily situation reports by 9 a.m. and complete damage assessments within 72 hours, as part of new emergency guidelines released Monday, November 18.

The memorandum issued by Education Secretary Sonny Angara sets up a strict monitoring system requiring regional and schools division offices to report casualties, track displaced teachers and students and document infrastructure damage through DepEd's rapid assessment system.

DepEd has also instructed schools to activate their medical and disaster risk reduction teams immediately. Field officials must also coordinate with local disaster risk reduction teams to track any casualties or displaced teachers and learners.

To minimize the disruption of the back-to-back storms to learning, DepEd has ordered schools to implement alternative delivery modes — essentially remote learning — for students to continue their studies.

"School officials are tasked with ensuring the availability of learning resources before deploying [alternative delivery modes]," DepEd said in a press release.

Field offices are also "encouraged to collaborate with local government units for clean-up operations, minor repairs, and the establishment of temporary learning spaces where needed," DepEd added.

Six storms hit Philippines in a month

The guidelines come as the Philippines grapples with the impact of six storms that have battered the country within a month, shortening a calendar that was already compressed to allow schools to more quickly return to the traditional June-March calendar.

On November 13 — prior to Pepito making landfall — DepEd reported that around 35 days have been sliced off from the school calendar of students in the Cordillera Administrative Region due to the disruptions caused by back-to-back storms.

Other hard-hit regions such as Central Luzon, Ilocos, CALABARZON and Cagayan Valley have lost at least 29 class days due to the series of typhoons, "with a few attributed to human-induced hazards like fire incidences," DepEd said.

In July, at least 800 schools were forced to delay their opening after Typhoon Carina and the southwest monsoon damaged facilities across the country.

Earlier in 2024, numerous schools nationwide had to suspend face-to-face classes during the summer due to dangerous heat levels that threatened the health and safety of students and teachers.

Climate scientists have warned that global warming is making extreme weather events like powerful typhoons and heat waves more frequent and intense in the Philippines and across Southeast Asia.