For some children displaced by typhoon Haiyan, it’s still ‘temporary’ classrooms this coming school year

THIS PHOTO taken on Nov. 1, 2015 shows young boys releasing their pet pigeons at a temporary shelter site locally dubbed “bunkhouses” for survivors of typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban City, ahead of the two-year anniversary of the devastating typhoon. THE DEPARTMENT of Education (DepEd)-Region 8 announced that the construction of more temporary learning spaces (TLS) are now under way in the northern barangays of Tacloban City for families displaced during the onslaught of typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) in November 2013. A DepEd city division official said: “We need to build schools there because more than a thousand families from the ‘no build zone’ coastal barangays had transferred residence to the northern barangays. It would be very inconvenient for our students to be coming to the downtown area just to attend their classes.” He said at least four permanent schools must be constructed in the northern barangay, but considering the dearth in funds, the DepEd is building just TLS for now in cooperation with the Tacloban City government. This academic year, DepEd will need about 215 provisional classrooms for 8,235 learners now relocated in the northern barangays. Last year, DepEd constructed TLS but these accommodated only about 1,440 new enrollees. DepEd will need P768.93 million as capital outlay for the construction of 558 permanent classrooms for over 25,000 children of relocated families.