TACLOBAN CITY- At least 940 classrooms in Eastern Visayas reported to have sustain damages when Typhoon ‘Ursula’ slammed the region on the eve of Christmas Day.
Still, the regional information officer of the Department of Education (DepEd), Jasmin Calzita, said that the students who came from these affected schools returned to their classes on Monday.
Based on the monitoring of the DepEd-8, 134 classrooms were said to have been totally destroyed while 806 others sustained damages.
The damages mostly include roofings, furnitures, and equipment like books and computers.
Of the provinces that were directly hit by Ursula, majority of these schools that reported damages were from Leyte province with 450 damaged and totally classrooms followed by Samar with 215 classrooms.
In Eastern Samar,165 classrooms were also reported to have been totally or partially damaged and Biliran with 110 damaged classrooms.
Only the provinces of Southern Leyte and Northern Samar did not sustain any damages to their classrooms due to Ursula.
Calzita said that during the opening of classes on Monday after the Christmas break, the school management immediately conducted their clearing operations with the help from personnel from the local government units.
“Also, repairs were conducted in schools where the damages were minimal,” the official said.
She also said that the school managements also hastily built their temporary learning spaces so studies of the students would not be affected.
Here in Tacloban City, nine schools in the city have built their temporary learning spaces either because power has yet to be restored due to fallen trees and other debris and still with flood water.
These are the Antonio Balmes National High School, Lorenzo Daa Memorial Elementary School, Lucio Veviro Elementary School, Old Kawayan Elementary School, Guadalupe Heights Integrated School, Greendale Residences Integrated School, Tagpuro Elementary School Annex, Villa Sofia Elementary School, and Panalaron Central School.
Calzita said that their office has enough funds to repair these damaged schools.
During the onslaught of Ursula,111 schools served as evacuation centers. The region has about 4,167 schools.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
