Normal class schedule resumes in Albay

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines — Classes in Albay schools that were used as evacuation centers following the eruption of Mayon Volcano will resume their normal schedule starting today.

This developed after a majority of over 60,000 Mayon evacuees, who have been occupying the classrooms since January, decamped or were allowed to return home.

Only 2,000 families residing within the volcano’s six-kilometer danger zone remain in separate evacuation centers, according to Cedric Daep, chief of the Albay public safety and emergency management office.

The evacuees cleaned the classrooms and the school premises before they left, Daep said.

“They received payment for cleaning the schools through the cash-for-work programs of the Department of Labor and Employment  and the Department of Social Welfare and Development,” he said. 

Ramon Fiel Abcede, regional director of the Department of Education  (DepEd) in Bicol, earlier said the evacuees occupied 821 classrooms or 76 percent of the total number of classrooms in affected towns and cities in Albay.

Despite the difficult situation, the teachers managed to adopt measures to mitigate the effects of the volcano eruption on the students.

Abcede said the teachers put up temporary learning spaces and shifted class schedules in order to accommodate the students.

At least 24 schools located within the danger zone were affected by Mayon’s eruption.

“The resumption of the normal schedule of classes today will help us finish the school calendar smoothly,” May Jumamil, spokesperson for the Bicol DepEd, said.

She said students whose families have yet to be allowed to decamp would continue to attend classes in evacuation centers.