Over 120 Cebu schoolbuildings crumbling down

Over 120 schoolbuildings in Cebu either require rehabilitation and repair or have been condemned but for one reason or another only about half had been attended to while the rest continue to be used and thus pose danger to the lives of students and teachers.

This was admitted yesterday by Marcial Degamo, assistant regional chief for secondary education, in the wake of the collapse of a wall of a condemned schoolbuilding in Moalboal a few days ago in which a young female student was killed and two others were wounded.

Degamo pointed to a number of reasons why the rest of the schoolbuildings have not been attended to, among them the lack of initiative of school administrators to have their schoolbuildings inspected and the inavailability of funds and personnel to continuously monitor the condition of these buildings.

Despite recommendations to condemn a building, Degamo said, some teachers insist on using it as activity center or even as classrooms due to limited space to accommodate growing student populations.

Schoolbuildings in nearby Bohol and Negros have similar problems, with each having at least a hundred needing repairs or actual replacement.

Assistant regional director Carolino Mordeno agreed that a good number of schoolbuildings in Cebu are time-worn and need immediate attention.

"Some of these require rehabilitation and repairs, some others are condemned and are recommended for demolition," Mordeno said.

Mordeno said all school divisions are bound to submit reports yearly on the condition of all schoolbuildings under their jurisdictions and follow whatever recommendations may be given by the DECS central office.– Freeman News Service