Making schools safe and ready
This year’s Brigada Eskwela highlights disaster preparedness and resiliency
While it has been improving its classroom standards, the Department of Education (DepEd) underscores the need to heighten support for the implementation of disaster risk reduction at the school level.
“The occurrence of disasters affected school operations to the point of depriving our students access to quality education,” DepEd Education Secretary Leonor Briones as she issued the 2019 Brigada Eskwela implementing guidelines.
Briones said that disaster preparedness of schools “is an important factor to achieve resilience in communities.” Thus, DepEd, through the 2019 Brigada Eskwela – seeks to “mainstream disaster preparedness principles in reading schools for the opening of classes.”
Aside from improving classroom standard, establishing the Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) Service and strengthening coordination with its partners, DepEd noted the need to strengthen support for school level implementation of disaster risk reduction.
“More than the usual menu of provisions for schools such as putting up fences, painting, roofing among others,” Briones said, “DepEd provides a list of preparedness measures that partners could support in various capacities.”
The national kickoff
program of the 2019 Brigada Eskwela took place at the Alfonso Central School in Alfonso, Cavite on May 16. School officials, along with volunteers, did some initial repairs and clean up while other DepEd partners conducted activities such as advocacy campaigns and orientation on disaster resiliency, illegal drugs, and health and sanitation, among others.
Among the highlights of this year’s Brigada Eskwela is to ensure that schools are safe and prepared in times of emergencies.
“Ang Brigada ngayon ay mas malawak na dahil hindi na lang ito tungkol sa paglilinis kundi mayroon din aspetong school safety,” Undersecretary for Legislative Affairs, External Partnerships, and Project Management Service Tonisito Umali, Esq, said during the kick off.
Umali explained that the DepEd
has issued the School Safety and Preparedness Guide to provide “guidance to schools and education partners in ensuring safety and preparedness” of learners as well as personnel “before, during, and after emergencies.”
Principals and school heads are enjoined to conduct DepEd-recommended activities that “may contribute to a safer school.” Umali said that through this, the principals and heads should be able to identify the most “important and appropriate” needs of their respective schools.
Umali said that as part of the Brigada Eskwela, public school heads and principals are urged to “ensure that the school has safe learning facilities, implement a school disaster management and risk reduction and resilience education.” Schools, he added, are also encouraged to “identify a storage area for safekeeping of vital school records, textbooks, teaching manuals, computers, and other school equipment.”
Schools in the region are enjoined to conduct simultaneous “Brigada” starting on Monday, May 20 until the 25th. The “Brigada Eskwela” is one of the biggest programs of DepEd which aims “bring together all education stakeholders to participate and contribute their time, effort, and resources to prepare public school facilities for the opening of the school year.”