The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) called on the Philippine government to provide immediate relief and repair damaged schools after recent typhoons and southwest monsoon rains affected nearly 10,000 classrooms and forced hundreds of schools to serve as evacuation centres.

Department of Education (DepEd) data cited by ACT showed 9,869 classrooms had sustained damage, including 5,731 with minor damage, 2,055 with major damage and 2,083 that were totally destroyed. The department also reported flooding in 59 schools, 47 of them in Central Luzon, ACT said.

“This is a reminder of the billions of pesos allocated for flood control that did not go toward building quality flood control projects,” ACT Chairperson Ruby Bernardo said in a statement.

She also criticized a proposed 107 billion pesos flood control allocation, saying the government should address corruption concerns before restoring the funding.

ACT said 348 schools with 1,309 classrooms were also being used as evacuation centres, potentially compounding disruptions to education.

“There are billions of pesos for flood control and confidential funds, but no funds for permanent evacuation centres?” Bernardo said.

“Schools are being used as a stopgap because you refuse to build real evacuation centres. The result is that teachers, students and communities are being punished twice,” she added.

It also called for adjustments to academic deadlines and calendars where necessary, saying schools should be allowed to focus on recovery without placing additional pressure on affected learners and teachers.

“More than a year after widespread and systematic corruption in flood control projects was exposed, we are still drowning in floods and a lack of accountability,” Bernardo said.

As of Wednesday morning, 2,243 schools had reported damage involving 11,167 classrooms, according to DepEd's Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service. The figures included 6,530 classrooms with minor damage, 2,389 with major damage and 2,248 that were totally damaged.

Meanwhile, 442 schools were being used as evacuation centres, accommodating 13,723 families in 1,748 classrooms.