SCHOOL OPENING: Barbers are busy snipping away hair as new haircuts are part of the preparation for the opening of classes today.
Floods, fraternities, drugs, traffic among the major concerns as classes start today
The deluge over the weekend which resulted in heavy flooding in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue brought anew the realization that with the opening of classes today, school children are at risk.
Hyne Mabanag, 35, cannot help but worry every time it rains and her children, aged 10 and eight, are in school. They attend a public elementary school in Mandaue City, located at a place known to experience knee-deep floods during a heavy downpour.
Mabanag and many other mothers are now filled with anxiety as they send their children to school today, as the country’s weather bureau had earlier announced that two low pressure areas (LPA) have been spotted and are expected to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) this week.
According to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pag-asa), these LPAs coupled with the
prevailing Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) will bring moderate to heavy rains in the Visayas area.
“Whenever the rain starts to pour, I would immediately go to the school because it is very worrisome that our children have to walk in the flood while
going home,” Mabanag told Cebu Daily News in Cebuano.
Mabanag said that she worries about the health of the children who could contract skin diseases from walking in flood waters and the possible breeding of dengue-carrying mosquitoes in the stagnant flood waters inside the school.
Not ready
The Department of Education in Central Visayas (DepEd-7) admitted that some of the schools in the region are not yet ready for the inclement weather that is expected to greet the opening of classes.
DepEd-7 acting Regional Director Dr. Juliet Jeruta said that they are still working to ensure that the condition of the schools are conducive to learning amid the challenges like flooding and lack of utilities.
In the school where Mabanag’s children attend, construction and leveraging of the ground floor of the school are still going on, even if classes start
today.
The pupils will be placed at the second and third floors of the school building to keep them away from the classrooms that are usually flooded during rains, said a school teacher who requested not to be named for lack of authority to speak.
Because of this, classes are now in shifts, thus pupils from grades one to five only have half-day classes.
Lack of classrooms
Its not just the floods that are the cause of the lack of classrooms.
During the launching of Oplan Balik Eskwela in the region, Jeruta said there are still looking into 338 schools in the region that might not be ready for the opening of classes today.
She also said there are schools that lack utilities like electricity and water.
“Even if sa araw ang pasokan, there are places that are gloomy so electricity is still a vital part,” said Jeruta.
Dr. Rhea Mar Angtud, Cebu Provincial Schools Division superintendent, also said that they are worried that there would not be enough chairs for the pupils inside the classrooms.
Angtud said they expect a lot of transferees to flock to the public schools especially with the petition to increase tuition fees filed by private schools.
“Usual problems to be anticipated sa opening are the parents of late enrollees. Dili nato ma-sure kung enough ang allocated arm chairs kay dugay man
na-enroll,” said Angtud in a text reply sent to Cebu Daily News.
Police Security
Meanwhile, the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) assured that all security details are in place for the opening of classes today,.
Supt. Reyman Tolentin, PRO-7 information officer, said they are giving close attention to possible fraternity wars involving high school students,,
especially those studying in the night high schools.
“These are the areas of concern, like the night schools and of course the fraternities. But usually, during opening of classes, they are busy with their academic requirements,” said Tolentin.
He said that about 30 percent of the police force in the region is tasked to monitor the start of classes.
PRO-7 has at least 8,000 uniformed police.
They are also expecting heavy traffic in schools near the main streets. Tolentin said there are force multipliers, like barangay tanods, who can help man the traffic flow.
Tolentin said that provincial and city police directors have been ordered to deploy the necessary number of police personnel in their area to secure the opening of classes.
Aside from frat wars, some underlying concerns include the probability that some schools might be near drug dens.
“The schools which are reported, kung naay duol ug drug den, we will base it on the reports. So as of now, the body-in-charge of it is the Drug Enforcement Group especially covering the whole region. And the operation of the DEG is intelligence-based. Pag may report, validate then conduct
police operations,” Tolentin explained. /With Benjie B. Talisic, Correspondent, CNU Intern Laksmi Cañedo and STC Intern Jaive Ria Z. Agbon