THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers called on the Department of Education to quickly fix the damage caused by Super Typhoon Karding to schools, mostly in Central Luzon, as these will prove to be setbacks to 100 percent face-to-face classes in November 2022.

The group suggested the swift mobilization of the remaining P10.46 billion calamity funds for this year to immediately address the effects of ‘Karding’ on education, agriculture, livelihood and homes in affected provinces.

ACT’s ground monitoring showed that many classrooms in Aurora, Quezon, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Tarlac and Metro Manila were damaged by strong winds and fallen trees.

“Typhoon Karding has rendered more classrooms unusable, thereby further exacerbating classroom shortage. Sana ay hindi magaya ito sa mga paaralan na sinalanta ng bagyong Jolina at Odette sa Bicol, Visayas at Mindanao na halos isang taon nang nakatiwangwang at hindi pa rin nakukumpuni kung kaya lalong kapos ang mga silid-aralan na nagagamit ngayon,” Vladimer Quetua, the group’s chairperson, said.

“Emergency assistance should also be given to affected families to cope with the disaster’s heavy toll on their homes and livelihood. Hindi makapagtutuloy ang klase kung hindi pa makauwi ang mga pamilya sa kanilang mga tahanan at naka-evacuate pa sila sa mga paaralan. Hindi rin makakapasok sa klase ang mga batang mula sa mga pamilyang nalunod ang mga pananim at wala ngayong makain,” he explained.

Quetua said students should get the schools back to normal operations at the soonest possible time.

“We hope that this will be done with the national government and the DepEd Central Office actively leading the efforts and providing the needed resources. We hope that these tasks will not just fall on the shoulders of school heads and our teachers as before, who have been so conveniently commanded by the highers-up to find ways on their own to resolve the problems on the ground,” he said.