Despite the heavy effects of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in some provinces of the Cordillera, the Department of Education said it is ready to open the school year 2022-2023 for face-to-face classes on Aug 22.
DepEd-CAR Director Estela Cariño said schools without damage and with extra classrooms would be used to accommodate learners from schools that experienced heavy damage.
“I already gave instructions that even faculty rooms and the principals’ offices will have to be vacated so there would be classrooms for our learners by Aug. 22,” Cariño said during the recent press briefing organized by the Office of the Civil Defense Cordillera.
Data from DepEd-CAR shows bulk of the damaged schools are in Abra with 233 among the 293 reported in the entire region as of Aug. 3. The number of classrooms with major damage reached 549, while 1,023 classrooms have relatively minor damage.
Due to damage in schools and classrooms, DepEd-CAR will also continue to implement hybrid learning or the mixture of offline and online modalities along with in-person classes.
The agency will still use the pure learning module in some schools of the region, while other schools would use their project HYTEQ, or the Hybrid Learning using Technology with Equity and Quality. The ongoing project provides schools with technologies needed for them to implement offline and online strategies in their distance learning.
Cariño said schools will conduct in-person classes especially for the core learning areas including English, Science, and Math. Also to be prioritized are learners who were not able to experience in-person classes for the past two years.
DepEd-CAR will also consider requesting the central office for an extension for the opening of classes for schools that are heavily damaged by the quake. But opening of classes will definitely push through even in areas with totally damaged schools, especially in Abra.
As of Aug. 3, the number of affected schools for the entire county reached 646 with 427 damaged schools. There were 621 classrooms that were totally damaged while 1,271 were partially damaged.
An estimated amount of P2.188 billion is needed for the repair and reconstruction of totally and partially damaged schools and classrooms.
Cariño said they have also inventoried learners and teachers affected so that they would receive the financial aid and psychosocial briefing prior to the opening of classes.
As of Aug. 3, there are 2,422 aftershocks recorded after the July 27 earthquake, according to Phivolcs. The areas that experienced magnitude 7, which is the highest intensity recorded, are the towns of Tayum, Bangued, Bucay, Bucloc, Danglas, Dolores, La Paz, Lagangilang, Licuan-Baay, Luba, Malibcong, Manabo, Peñarrubia, Pilar, Sallapadan, and San Juan, all in Abra. – Ofelia C. Empian
