Over 3K studes still missing after Zambo siege

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) is tracking down more than 3,000 students from public schools who remained unaccounted for and have not returned to schools five months after the bloody siege here in September.

The DepEd’s City Schools’ Division Office said the unaccounted students came from the primary schools of the three devastated Barangays of Mariki, Rio Hondo, and Sta. Barbara that have a combined student population of more than 5,000.

The division office noted high rates of unaccounted students  from Sta. Barbara Elementary School with 58.89 percent or 1,779 students; Rio Hondo Elementary School 63.39 percent or 594 students; Mariki with 58.70 percent or 678 students unaccounted.

Jane Lu, planning officer of the division office, said during the education cluster meeting with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Save the Children and other civil society organizations that are working closely with the internally displaced people,  vowed to assist the DepEd by providing data base to track down the unaccounted students.

Lu said during the early stage of the rehabilitation effort they have tracked down the students after makeshift classrooms were established in different evacuation camps to account for the students and help them in the psycho-social rehabilitation.

“But some of the students declined to return for various reasons,” according to Lu.

She said they have also adopted the program by accommodating the displaced students as transient students for schools of their host communities.

“With the data base provided by the different CSO, the UNICEF, and Save the Children our target is to track down and account for the students before the end of the school year,” Lu added.

Similar records were also provided by the city government that is overseeing the rehabilitation and recovery efforts on the affected and displaced families, according to Sheila Covarrubias, public information officer.

She said the education cluster will be working hand in hand with the Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) Cluster to track down students of families of home-based internally displaced persons (IDPs) not attending classes.

The current order for students of IDP families who want to attend school is to be accepted in the school of their host communities as transient students.

The DepEd Manila office has ordered its department office here to assess the situation. - Roel Pareño