Typhoon Odette has wreaked havoc on hundreds of schools nationwide and the Department of Education (DepEd) needs at least P3.37 billion for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of thousands of classrooms that were damaged.
During the pre-taped “Talk to the People” public briefing of President Duterte which aired on Tuesday, Dec. 28, Education Secretary Leonor Briones reported that 486 schools in seven regions were damaged during the onslaught of typhoon Odette.
Of this, 1,086 classrooms were totally damaged which would need P2.75 billion for reconstruction. Briones said that there were also 1,316 partially damaged classrooms which would need P658 million for rehabilitation or major repair.
Aside from this, Briones said DepEd would also need funds for the replacement of non-infrastructure damages.
Based on initial estimates, DepEd needs P73.43 million to replace damaged school furniture, P26.47M for the replacement of damaged learning materials, P657.46M to replace damaged computers in elementary schools and P3.25M for the replacement of damaged computers in secondary schools.
As instructed by the President, Briones said that DepEd checked its Quick Response Fund (QRF) to help the regions affected by “Odette.”
“It’s already the end of the year and we counted P3.8 million which is still with our office and we also counted continuing funds which are available which is P227 million which can also be used and these are savings from current funds and continuing funds which have already been downloaded to the regional offices,” Briones said.
Briones said that over 12 million learners in 29, 671 schools under 121 schools division offices (SDOs) in 11 regions were affected by typhoon Odette.