A school in Tagum City has received a much-needed donation of a fully equipped, two-story building from the SM Foundation and SM Prime, coming exactly one week after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake destroyed three of the school’s compromised classrooms.

Brigitte Asas, principal of Suaybaguio-Riña Elementary School, said the new facility’s completion was perfectly timed as the 10 October earthquake had compromised three existing buildings that were already marked for “condemnation” due to beam cracks, making them unsafe for the school’s first- and second-grade students.

“The SM classrooms itself, after the earthquake, are very timely, especially now that we’re lacking classrooms,” Asas said. She cited that the school’s three original buildings, built more than 25 years ago, are now set for demolition.

Classroom scarcity has been the school’s most significant problem, forcing the creation of at least five makeshift rooms that the principal described as “half concrete, half wooden” to accommodate students.

Teacher I Elene Saavedra stressed the importance of the new facility for primary level students, calling it a more conducive space for their holistic development.

“Our old building is not really conducive for learning because it was dark and our students were uncomfortable due to lack of electric fans, unlike in this building where it’s brighter and more spacious,” Saavedra said.

Student government president Lonardjames Eramis and fellow sixth-grade pupil Princess Dumagat praised the new wood-steel armchairs, which replace the old, cramped desks that sometimes required up to four students to share one unit.

Saavedra also recalled that the old classrooms often flooded during rain, sometimes forcing classes to be suspended.

The new building features four classrooms, each fully equipped with a whiteboard, a toilet room, four electric fans, a teacher’s table, and armchairs designed to accommodate students with disabilities, including left-handed learners.

The facility also includes a Parent-Teacher’s Association office, a faculty room, a mini-library, a 10-faucet handwashing station and PWD (Persons with Disability) facilities.

Asas said the new classrooms are expected to motivate students and improve academic performance.

“This building symbolizes hope for our students and is now a legacy of the SM Foundation,” Asas said. “The gratitude of the Suaybaguio-Riña Elementary School community would last a lifetime.”