Teachers, students to get debriefing

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Education will be subjecting all students and teachers of typhoon-stricken areas to a psychological debriefing in order for them to overcome their traumatic experiences of the incident.

Victor Yntig, DepEd field supervisor and focal person of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC), said that while working on the structural aspects, they will be also working on the human aspect.

"We understand what teachers and students have gone through during and after the typhoon (super typhoon Yolanda) that's why we will be working on it," Yntig said.

But so far, as accounting of students in different schools continued, the DepEd have yet to receive any report of students who quit from their class.

The Cebu Province Division and the Bogo City Division were among those affected by the typhoon last November 8 in the Visayas region.

In Cebu Province, 1,731 schools are partially damaged and 311 are totally damaged while in Bogo City, 237 are partially damaged and 132 are totally damaged based on the assessment made by the DepEd project engineers and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

DepEd is currently asking for DPWH for the reconstruction and repair of the damage school infrastructures in Northern Cebu.

Yntig hoped that funding for the reconstruction and repair of the school infrastructures will be released early next year so they could immediately start and finished everything for the opening of the next school year.

"We are just relying with the DPWH for the reconstruction as the construction arm of the government," he said.

Classes in Northern Cebu will resume next year though, it is not mandatory for students to attend their respective classes which take place at the temporary learning places like makeshift, barangay offices and tents.

DepEd assures not to drop a student from the class for failure to attend but they will just cover the curriculum requirements as they are trying to address the schools' needs.  (FREEMAN)