Today, thousands of schoolchildren in areas devastated by supertyphoon Yolanda will be holding classes wherever they can hold them -- in small clearings amid mounds of uncleared debris, within the walls of roofless houses, by the side of roads still littered with carcasses.
They will be coming to "school" half-starved — if they were among the lucky ones who received a few days worth of rice, sardines and noodles. They will probably stink from lack of water to bathe. The clothes on their backs are probably the ones they wore when Yolanda struck.
If they still have parents who survived, they will be brought to school and fetched later. If they have been orphaned, they are probably with the others for no other reason than that they have nowhere else to go. As with the rest of the lot, they did not come because of some burning desire to continue schooling.
Classes are being held starting today in the Yolanda-devastated areas because Education Secretary Armin Luistro has forced the issue. Luistro refuses to see utter devastation, physical hardships, and psychological trauma as hindrances to an early return to school.
For Luistro, the complaints from incredulous teachers at ground zero are too puny and insignificant to merit any consideration. He cannot even take the hint from CHED, his college counterpart, whose order for the more mature college students is for a January return of classes.
To Luistro, who thinks like Noynoy Aquino, there is no other word more important than his and listens to no one. Once he embarks on something, regardless of whether he has all his facts straight, not even Yolanda and its ravages can stop him.
And that is why, with absolutely nothing to hold classes in, classes will start today in the devastated areas because Luistro has said so. How conditions on the ground will affect any learning that may take place is of no moment to the education secretary.
What is important is that Luistro has already issued his decree and nothing else is more important than that the decree must be followed. To hell if children bake in the sun, or get soaked in the rain. To hell if they step on broken glass and nails or get bitten by snakes and other deadly insects.
Never mind if there are no classroom materials and other teaching aids to use. Never mind if teachers are still in shock over the loss of their loved ones and material possessions. When Luistro says so, there is nothing left for anyone to do but follow.