The Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday assured that the learning materials that were damaged by the consecutive typhoons that hit the country will be replaced soon.
“Even without typhoons, there is already provision for supplementary learning materials for the next quarters,” Education Secretary Leonor Briones said during the press briefing of Presidential Spokesperson Secretary Harry Roque, Jr.
At the national level, Briones said that the DepEd is ready to address these concerns. “We don’t charge the learners and the teachers for these learning materials,” she said. “We will download P1.2 billion for the supplementary learning materials, to replace those that were damaged and for the next quarters,” she added.
While DepEd is preparing to replace the learning materials that were damaged by typhoons “Rolly” and “Ulysses,” Briones reiterated the appeal of the agency to reduce the printing of self-learning modules (SLMs).
“The plea of DepEd is to slowly reduce the dependence on printed materials because we’re killing our forests, our trees,” Briones said. She added that printed SLMs are “the most expensive learning materials” because aside from paper, it also uses ink. “Aside from being very expensive, this is also very harmful to the environment, which is why we’re looking into other ways of sharing the learning process to our learners,” she added.
Following the class suspensions in the areas battered by the recent typhoons, Briones said that DepEd will implement “necessary adjustments” especially for the affected schools.
“Every year, we have disasters - natural or otherwise - so DepEd is already used to these,” Briones said. Even when classes are disrupted, such as the case during the Marawi Siege in 2017, she noted that education of learners continued.
In the aftermath of “Ulysses,” one of the most affected cities is Marikina - prompting the local government to suspend classes for a month. “In the case of Marikina, all the regions are working together to help them,” she added.
When the school year is disrupted due to disasters or calamities, Briones said that the DepEd adjusts the school calendar as well as the activities of the students. The local DepEd officials in the affected schools, she added, also iron out various interventions to ensure that students will be able to catch up on their lessons such as make up classes, among others.