DepEd to execs: Address school damage, ensure continuity

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) has ordered its officials and field officers to address damage to schools and ensure learning continuity amid class disruptions in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Pepito.

In a memorandum released yesterday, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said field officers were ordered to activate disaster response teams and submit quick assessments of damage to schools within 72 hours of hazard during the weather disturbance.

They were also ordered to list the number of schools affected by flooding or landslides, the number of students, teachers and school workers affected and what they need to recover from the calamity’s impact.

School officials also need to conduct “clean-up or clearing operations, minor repairs to temporary learning spaces, emergency school feeding and temporary water, sanitation and hygiene facilities to enable a safe learning environment and facilitate immediate access to education,” according to Angara.

He said that apart from these, damaged learning resources, school furniture and computers should be replaced immediately.

To ensure learning continuity, the DepEd chief also ordered schools to implement alternative delivery modes and the Dynamic Learning Program (DLP) “for learners who are unable to return to school due to damaged infrastructure or ongoing safety concerns.”

Under the DLP, affected schools shall have the flexibility to conduct make-up classes and utilize DLP learning activity sheets in temporary learning spaces.

The DepEd said the activity sheets are designed to be “simple, targeted and adaptable.”

Last week, the agency reported that as many as 35 school days have been lost in some schools in the country due to the impact of storms and other natural disasters.

Angara said the Cordillera Administrative Region has lost 35 school days – the highest number of class disruptions nationwide – due to natural disasters and calamities.

DepEd data showed that Cagayan Valley, Ilocos, Calabarzon and Central Luzon all lost 29 school days, with a few class disruptions caused by man-made hazards such as fire.

Meanwhile, 239 schools were marked as “very high risk” to further learning losses due to the frequency of natural hazards hitting their areas. Another 4,771 schools with 3,865,903 learners are categorized as “high risk.

Angara said schools were severely damaged during natural calamities this year, with 377,729 students displaced. ”