The Department of Education said the construction, rehabilitation and repair of classrooms destroyed or damaged by super typhoon Yolanda will not be able to make it in time for the June 2 opening of classes. And that is just in northern Cebu where more than 2,000 classrooms have been affected.
It is even worse in Leyte, which bore the brunt of Yolanda, the world's strongest typhoon to hit land in recorded history. In Leyte, the destruction is not confined to certain patches of territory. It is all over. Between Ormoc and Tacloban, there is not a single school spared destruction in one form or another.
But one would have thought that this failure to beat the school opening is due to the sheer magnitude of the destruction. Alas, that is not the reason. As one DepEd official in Cebu lamented, the budget for rehab work was approved only recently?
What? What do you mean only recently? It has been six months since Yolanda struck, and the budget for rehab was approved only recently? One would have thought calamities speed up the release of funds, precisely why local governments have developed the habit of declaring states of calamity even when there is none.
What has the government been doing all this time? What has it taken so long to act? The opening of classes is not something that is up in the air. It is a mystery to no one. Every schoolyear is scheduled to open in June. Given that knowledge, government should have known its budget priorities and acted accordingly.
Now, when classes open in June and children are forced to hold classes under trees, or in tents provided by relief agencies, how is the situation going to affect the quality of education. Clearly those in the affected areas will be disadvantaged.
In fact they have been disadvantaged already, because Yolanda rudely interrupted classes in these areas on November 8 and they have not returned to normal ever since. What learning can be imparted by the system will not be equitable and the same nationwide.
But has the DepEd made provisions for this? If it has not been able to provide for a swift release of its own rehab budget, it would be futile to expect it to have made allowances for the unequal learning of students in different parts of the country.
Yet the education department under this administration is not expected to consider anything contrary to its vision. In the same way it went ahead with the K to 12 program despite widespread opposition and clear lack of readiness, this DepEd will plod right ahead as if nothing happened. No adjustments, no nothing. Deadma.