When it rains, ‘no classes’
A week after classes in public schools opened, more than half of the student population in a mountain barangay school still don’t have school supplies, and many skip classes when it rains.
At the Dr. Emilio Osmeña Integrated School in barangay Buot, Cebu City, many don’t even have notebooks or a pair of slippers.
“One-fourth ra sa population sa mga estudyante ang maka-afford ug school supplies. Three-fourth mostly wala gyud school supplies,” said Grade 1 adviser Effie Juezan. (Only one-fourth of the population of students can afford school supplies. The rest don’t have any.)
Because they don’t have notebooks or pencils, many opt not to attend the first week of classes.
When Cebu Daily News visited the school last Thursday, only one Grade 1 pupil came to class with a pencil and paper.
Teachers have to get out of their way and look for donors for the students’ needs. They were lucky that a private company donated some school supplies and helped paint and repair their classrooms during the Brigada Eskwela two weeks ago, but these were not enough for all of the school’s 506 students.
The lack of notebooks, paper and pencils, however, is not the biggest hurdle for students and teachers.
They have to walk long distances and cross the river some seven times just to reach the school.
With rains accompanying the first week of classes, a lot of students remained in their homes.
“If there are students who arrive, we hold classes. But some can’t attend because of the flood.
Sometimes we hold remedial classes at lunch so we can let the students out earlier in the afternoon,” Juezan said.
Students can’t afford shoes and makes do with slippers which don’t last more than a month because of all the walking and river-crossing. Girls hold up their skirts and boy, their shorts, as they balance their schoolbags on their heads so as not to get it wet.
When it rains, the river’s strong current makes it dangerous for schoolchildren to cross.
“Dili na lang mi moskwela kung mag-uwan kay hadlok man maanod,” said eight-year-old Grade 1 student Joey Ulinggay who has to cross the river 12 times to get to school and back home. (We don’t go to school when it rains because of the strong river current.)
Teachers are no exemption, as they too get to experience what the children have to undergo.
“Teachers also cross rivers so we understand the difficulty of the students. But some teachers can opt to ride motorcycles which most students can’t afford,” Juezan said.
At the mountain barangay of Buot, teachers and students can only hope things will get better for them.
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