‘Let school kids in typhoon areas do activities’

MANILA, Philippines - “Let them play.”

This was the suggestion of Education Secretary Armin Luistro on what school children should do in the meantime as the government rushes plans to immediately resume classes in places devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda.

As of yesterday, there were no announcements yet from the Department of Education (DepEd) on when classes in elementary and secondary schools in typhoon-hit areas would resume.

About 9,000 public schools were reportedly destroyed by Yolanda.

Luistro instructed officials to plan for the resumption of classes when everyone has been accounted for.

“The best way for kids to recover is to bring them back to their routine as soon as possible – and that is to bring them to school,” he said.

“There is no need to conduct classes right away. Let them play, do activities,” he added.

According to the DepEd, there are about 1.1 million students in Region 8 (Eastern Visayas).

It earlier said it has put up a command center in Lahug, Cebu to secure information on the whereabouts of its personnel.

An operations center has also been established at the Leyte National High School in Tacloban City where teachers and other DepEd personnel can report.

The Commission on Higher Education announced on Wednesday that classes in higher educational institutions in Western, Eastern and Central Visayas which were badly hit by Yolanda would resume on Jan. 15.