ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro on Wednesday slammed Education Secretary Leonor Briones for being ‘insensitive’  after the latter told school officials hit by the past typhoons to solve their own problems.

“Napaka-insensitive at uncaring para sa mga guro at kawani ng paaralan na nasalanta rin ng mga dumaang bagyo,” Castro said.

She said that the Department of Education should provide assistance to school divisions hit by typhoon Rolly.

“Kasama ang mga guro at kawani ng paaralan na naging biktima at nasalanta rin ng nagdaang mga bagyo. Mula sa paghahanda para sa pasukan, pinabayaan na ng DepEd ang mga paaralan na lutasin at gawan ng paraan ang mga kakulangan ng DepEd Central pagdating sa mga module, gadget at connection. Ngayong nasalanta ng bagyo ang ilang bahagi ng ating bansa, ang tugon ng DepEd ay ‘find ways to solve your own problems’,” Castro said.

She said that schools may not need advice on how to dry soaked learning materials or repair damaged modules but the Central office should use its resources to send aid to hardest hit schools.

“There are budget items from the DepEd Central office like the Quick Response Fund that it can use to help these affected schools,” Castro pointed out.

The lawmaker said DepEd should provide assistance to schools in addressing problems on damaged learning materials for distance education to ensure that there will be no shortage of these materials in typhoon-hit areas.