Teachers' group: Typhoon-damaged schools should be repaired before school opening

MANILA, Philippines — A group of teachers has called on the government to speed up school repairs following the damage wrought by Typhoon Egay less than a month before classes start next school year.

There are about 169 schools across nine regions that were damaged by the combined effects of Typhoon Egay and the southwest monsoon, based on data from the education department.

"The immediate repair of damaged facilities must be addressed to ensure that teachers and students have safe and adequate facilities for the upcoming school year. The impact of conducive learning spaces on teaching and learning is significant," said Raymond Basilio of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, the country’s largest group of educators.

Based on the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council report on August 2, there are at least 559 damaged classrooms in affected regions and 38 municipalities with destroyed educational materials, computers, and armchairs due to recent typhoons.

Reconstruction and rehabilitation of damaged classrooms will cost about P810 million, according to the Department of Education.

Basilio said that the group met with its regional officers from Typhoon Egay-affected areas and found that several teachers were concerned about the potential burden on them if the damaged facilities were not immediately addressed.

Basilio also said that DepEd should improve on its apparent slow repair progress as seen in  the 2021 annual audit report from COA, which showed that out of 11,468 classrooms targeted for repair, only 2,689 — less than a quarter — were successfully repaired.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said in a briefing this week that the government is already conducting an inventory to determine the number of public schools damaged by Typhoon Egay.

DepEd set the opening of classes for public schools this year on August 29.

Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte identified classroom shortages as the most urgent education issue during the department’s first Basic Education Report in January. 

According to DepEd data, only 104,000 out of 328,000 education facilities (or one out of three) are still in good shape.

DepEd has been perennially short of the budget allocation needed to address the lack of adequate school facilities for its growing student population.

Duterte said in January that DepEd’s budget in 2023 will only allow it to build around 6,000 classrooms. This is only about 6.5% of the 91,000 classroom shortage it projected in August 2022.