MANILA, Philippines — The education department's regional office in Bicol said Thursday that it will extend psychological first aid to students in areas hit hard by the recent typhoons that ravaged the country.
DepEd Region 5 in a release said the sessions will cover some 200 students per schools division along with mental health services to teaching and non-teaching staff from December 7 to 11.
"[The session] is an arts-based approach. It includes body movement and music activities, t-shirt art creation, writing and storytelling exercise, and breathing exercises to foster the well-being of all attendees," the office said.
Officials added that while it will be held in person, health standards set by government such as physical distancing and PPE wearing would be followed.
It will also be limited to between 15 to 20 persons per session.
Super Typhoon "Rolly" (international name Goni) and Typhoon "Ulysses" (international name Vamco) had left Bicol reeling from extensive damage, with billions of pesos in damage to crops as well as thousands of homes destroyed.
The two weather disturbances, along with another — "Quinta" (international name Molave), had left Luzon under a state of calamity.
DepEd figures after Rolly's onslaught showed nearly 3,000 students were staying with their families in evacuation shelters, with learning under a new setup due to the coronavirus pandemic heavily reliant on internet, TV or radio apart from printed resources taking a halt.
In Bicol alone, 182 schools were reported to have been damaged, along with 6,251 learning materials and 130 computer sets.
The child-rights' group Educo Philippines has warned that learning such typhoons, along with the ongoing health crisis, will further hamper learning in the said areas.
Psychosocial sessions it extended to students also showed some losing interest in returning to classes after the calamity.
Now a month after Rolly, the global NGO that began its efforts in the country in 2005, said risks especially among women and young girls are heightened as a result of the lack of shelters.
"The cramped spaces and the lack of electricity can expose them to heightened protection risks," said Shiena Base who leads the Educo's emergency response team on the ground. "It will be difficult for them to report these as their families have other problems to deal with, simultaneously.”
The group has since continued to distribute relief kits to hundreds of typhoon victims, but one of its major concern is the impact of the storms to students' learning, describing 2020 as "the worst year for most school children."
“Parents pay particular attention to provide food on the table, before anything else," Base added. "Some are unable to spend money on transportation to school when their school-age children need to pick up modules for distance learning.”
Education Secretary Leonor Briones has said that the agency would spend some P1.2 billion to replace damaged learning materials, with officials saying sources for the effort have been identified.
Classes in hard-hit areas were temporarily called off as a result of the typhoons. DepEd, however, has shunned calls from groups to declare and academic freeze, with Briones saying that the school calendar could instead be extended.