Gov’t racing to fix ‘Egay’-hit classrooms before 29 August school opening

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday said that not all schools damaged by Typhoon “Egay” could be used for the upcoming school year.

In an interview with reporters, Marcos said that the government is doing its best to repair the school damage, but the weather has been a significant obstacle.

“When the typhoon hit, we asked ourselves what we could do in a month,” Marcos said. “So far, we are doing what we can, along with our local government units, to repair the damage. The School Building Program should continue, but the weather is a major obstacle.”

Duterte, who is also the Department of Education secretary, said that the schools affected by Typhoon “Egay” are their priority for repair in this year’s budget.

However, she said that their schools will immediately implement their blended learning program if the 29 August opening doesn’t complete their repairs.

“We will continue with blended learning or in-person classes. Learning will continue even if there are problems with classrooms,” Duterte added.

Marcos said that the government’s temporary solution is to return to the systems they developed during the lockdown if the school buildings and facilities still need to be repaired.

“We’ll go back to the systems we developed during the lockdown,” Marcos said. “We have the technology and the resources to ensure that our students continue to learn, even if they can’t attend school,” he added.

Last week, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers urged the government to complete the repair of school facilities that were damaged by the recent typhoon. The aim is to ensure that students and teachers can use these facilities when classes start on 29 August.

Following the impact of Typhoon “Egay” and other weather disturbances from the southwest monsoon between late July and early August, 559 classrooms in 169 schools across nine regions have been reported as damaged.

DepEd has estimated that the cost of reconstructing and rehabilitating these classrooms would be approximately P810 million.

DepEd is presently focused on establishing its blended learning approach as a formal policy. This approach permits schools to temporarily transition to online and/or modular learning methods if the situation requires it.