PALO, Leyte, Philippines -— A 2-storey, 4-classroom typhoon-resilient schoolbuilding will rise from among the rubbles of the San Joaquin Central School in Palo, Leyte. In groundbreaking ceremonies attended by DepEd representatives, school officials & teachers and donors: BDO Foundation & SM Foundation, the badly-damaged school’s 496 elementary school children from barangays Canda-o, Cogon & San Joaquin will get a new schoolbuilding from SM & BDO. The schoolbuilding is expected to be finished by September of this year. After an ocular inspection by a team from the BDO & SM Foundations, the group decided to build a new schoolbuilding in a site visible from the highway.
Before the typhoon, there were six buildings or a total of 21 classrooms but the onslaught of the typhoon resulted in the total collapse of one building while 5 were totally damaged. In order not to disrupt the schooling of the students, the school got a temporary learning shelter from the UNICEF, while Tzu Chi Foundation erected three temporary classrooms while four temporary classrooms were given by DepEd.
Lydia Café Modesto, Grade IV teacher reports that after the typhoon, she had to handle two sections because one Grade IV teacher drowned during the typhoon. She likewise lost three pupils from her section. Alma Joy Redona, Grade V teacher who has been with the San Joaquin Elementary School for 19 years, held classes in a temporary classroom built by the Tzu Chi Foundation. She further said that since some of the classrooms are used as evacuation centers, school sections were fused to be able to hold classes regularly. In the case of Jonna Lyne Asilum, an ALS Mobile teacher who goes to the barangays to teach out-of-school youths, the visits have become so difficult because many of the children he mentors in Cooking, Sewing, Gardening & Industrial Arts have either perished, are missing or trauma-stricken, making it difficult to get their attention. Liberato Cobacha, the school Principal reported 67 deaths from among the faculty & the student. On graduation day held earlier this month, 10 members of the graduating class failed to attend the graduation while a Grade IV teacher also drowned.