‘Brigada Eskwela’ readies schools, community for disasters

CEBU, Philippines - This year’s “Brigada Eskwela” campaign of the Department of Education  is geared towards making schools ready for disasters and towards developing disaster-resilient communities.

Originally, the campaign was conceptualized to bring together the academe and the community in preparing schools for the opening of classes through clean-up and repair but the successive calamities that struck the Philippines last year made DepEd elevate efforts this year.

With the theme, “Making Our Schools Safer”, DepEd has distributed the School Safety and Preparedness Guide, which will help ensure preparedness of students and personnel during emergencies. It also has a School Risk Profile sheet that will identify vulnerabilities of the school, as well as a Stakeholder Engagement Strategy aimed at getting support from stakeholders, government, and private sector in the efforts of making schools safer.

In Cebu City, the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office will conduct orientation on disaster preparedness among teachers while the Philippine Red Cross and Fire Marshalls will hold training on first aid.

The Mabolo Elementary School, for one, seeks to mainstream disaster-preparedness principles among its teachers, parents and students. Mabolo Elementary School has one of the biggest populations among elementary schools in Cebu City with around 3,300 students every year.

The school’s Brigada Eskwela coordinator Emely Aguanta said parents will undergo the orientation on June 2 when classes open.

Aguanta said the school’s urgent needs are emergency kits for pupils and teachers, which DepEd identified as a school need. The school is still looking for a donor for the kits. The International Pharmaceuticals Inc. has already donated around P5,000 health kits to the school.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Fire Protection  took charge of upgrading the school’s electrical wiring with the help of Task Force Kahayag.

Task Force Kahayag is composed of the Local School Board, Department of Education Cebu City Division, head of the City Council’s committee on energy, the Visayas Electric Company, and the Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers Cebu Chapter.

Starting yesterday until Sunday this week, volunteers of the Brigada Eskwela will participate in repairing furniture, repainting school buildings, beautification and landscaping, drainage clean-up, and septic tank pumping together with SK officials, Alumni, DepEd officials, Alternative Learning System, Retirees, Senior Citizens Group, and community workers.

With the help of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, teachers and DepEd officials will put up signages for safety and guidelines.

Personnel of the city’s Department of Agriculture will also help in pruning trees in the school.

Yesterday, Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella visited the Mabolo Elementary School, Guadalupe Elementary School, and City Central Elementary School.

He reminded schools that securing the safety of students should also be one of the thrusts of Brigada Eskwela, therefore, as early as now, schools must identify emergency exits that can be used in the event of disasters like the magnitude 7.2 earthquake last year. — Keziah Astillo, Sherwin Oro Gabrinez, UP, and Evelyn C. Espinosa /JMO