Teachers and youth groups are urging the government, particularly the Department of Education (DepEd), to urgently address the concerns of the education sector in the aftermath of the “strongest typhoon” that hit the country so far this year. 

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines and the Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK) called the attention of the Duterte administration to respond “properly and immediately” to the damages brought by Tropical Storm “Rolly” to thousands of teachers and students in the affected regions. 

ACT, in a statement, expressed concerns over the situation of teachers, learners, and their families who have been hit hard by “Rolly” over the weekend. “Despite the enormous damage brought about by typhoon Rolly to large parts of Luzon, we have not even heard of class and work cancellation in affected areas for the next few days,” ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio said. 

The group is also calling on the national government to be “quick with their response to immediately alleviate the sufferings of our kababayans.” Basilio cited that electricity supply had been cut off in the whole Bicol region and almost all telco services have been down, based on ground reports. 

Basilio noted that teachers in affected areas worry that they can no longer give updates in the next few days as their phone batteries are nearly spent. “We are aware that many of our public schools have been used as evacuation centers before the storm hit,” he added. 

DepEd, Basilio added, should ensure that schools, teachers, and students have all been accounted for. Thus, he urged DepEd to “immediately report on the situation of its employees in areas devastated by the typhoon and to mobilize agency resources to extend aid to those who need it.” 

The group is also calling for a minimum P10,000 financial aid to DepEd teaching and non-teaching personnel who have been gravely affected by the typhoon. “The department should assess the damage of the typhoon to the infrastructure, equipment, and materials for distance learning,” he said. “DepEd must take it upon itself to remedy the problems and not bank on teachers, who are victims of the typhoon themselves, to once again bear the burdens of education continuity,” he added. 

To mobilize support and deliver assistance to the most needy teachers and students who were affected by typhoon “Rolly,” ACT also started its own “Tulong Guro” Donation Drive. 

Meanwhile, SPARK condemned the “weakest government” and its attempts to respond effectively to the “strongest typhoon” of 2020 so far, particularly its effects on the education sector.

SPARK, an activist youth organization, alleged that the government’s “refusal” to alleviate the situation in the education sector even in the middle of the typhoon has left students, teachers, and workers in the dust.

“The education system, broken as it is with the haphazard shift to distance platforms, is left in an even worse state by the typhoon,” SPARK National Spokesperson John Lazaro said in a statement.  

“A failure to nationally suspend classes and other school requirements in consideration of students whose power supplies have been cut due to the typhoon is merely the latest in a long, long list of failures in Philippine education,” he added. 

Lazaro also alleged that the government “has done nothing to prevent students, teachers, or workers from getting left behind even before the storm season began.” 

Given this, the group has reiterated its call for an “academic freeze” until January, provision of social support for students, teachers, and their families, and the enactment of “necessary policies to ensure a better normal for education.”