As of January 8, there are a total of 1,046 schools with reported infrastructure damage; 1,548 totally destroyed classrooms; and 3,797 partially major damaged classrooms. Region 5 incurred the most damages, with 1,237 and 2,948 classrooms totally and partially (major) damaged, respectively.
For the non-infrastructure damage, the initial report showed that there are a total of 63,232 damaged units of school furniture; 386,689 damaged units of learning resources; and 384 schools who reported damaged computers.
Briones proposed for the following actions for the repair/rehabilitation and reconstruction of disaster-affected schools:
- Immediate release of a Special Allotment for Bicol (typhoon “Nina”), and for regions affected by typhoons “Karen” and “Lawin” to be managed and implemented by DepEd; and
- The Quick Response Fund (QRF) be reinstated to enable DepEd to proceed with the necessary processes to fast track repair and reconstruction of damaged school buildings. The QRF for DepEd has been removed starting FY 2017 and all QRF for FY 2016 have already been utilized.
In addition, the Secretary proposed the following long-term solutions for strategic response of the education sector in affected areas:
- Pre-downloading of funds for clean-up and TLS to regions to further shorten the response time;
- Procurement of furniture and computers to include buffer stocks for disasters;
- Prepositioning of buffer stocks for learning resources, furniture and computers in areas prone to disasters;
- Improving warehousing and logistics at regional/schools division offices; and
- Structuring of procurement to facilitate quick response.
Immediate Interventions
With the help of the local government units (LGUs) of affected areas, parents, and other local organizations, Brigada Eskwela type of activities for clean-up and minor repairs have been done in the aftermath of typhoon “Nina.”
Secretary Briones also reported in the Cabinet meeting that two weeks after Nina,
PHP 17.49M clean-up fund, or P15,000 per school, has been downloaded to 1,166 schools.
To immediately restore normalcy of classes while repair and reconstruction are being undertaken, a total of PHP 66.78M has been downloaded to respective divisions for 1,113 Temporary Learning Spaces (TLS) for 465 schools.
As part of the measures to guarantee early recovery, DepEd will provide buffer stocks of learning resources to affected schools and is working with the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) members such as the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), including international and local non-government organizations (NGOs) and private sectors who sit in the NDRRMC, for trucking/shipping assistance.
For partially major damaged school buildings, the preparation of Program of Works based on the detailed assessment of DepEd Engineers is on January 10-12. The completion of repair is expected from March to May of this year, assuming funds are available this January and procurement starts on February.
Finalization of scope of works and cost estimates of totally damaged school buildings is set in March 2017; the procurement of reconstruction of school buildings by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is scheduled from April to May. Actual construction will take place in June-December of this year.
Assistance from partners
Apart from the delivery of learning materials, the Department is also in coordination with NDRRMC members, NGOs, and private sectors for trucking/shipping assistance of various donations from partners.
As a partner in the Education Cluster, UNICEF pledged the following supplies to be distributed to typhoon Nina-affected schools: 93 units of tents (72 sqm., equivalent to 2 classrooms); 23 sets of recreation kits; 20 sets school-in-a-box kits that are good for 40 learners; 150 sets of library kits for elementary schools (ES); and 1,859 student kits for ES.
SMART, also an Education Cluster partner, will distribute 1,000 SMART Teachers Kit to a total of 200 identified schools in Regions 4A, 4B, and 5.
Assistance from UNICEF and SMART have been allocated to priority schools in heavily affected divisions in the above mentioned regions. Date of delivery to the recipients are still being coordinated.
