President Marcos said the July 29 opening of schools will not be postponed even as he acknowledged that some schools in storm-hit areas might be forced to conduct classes outside their buildings.
“As much as possible, if the school buildings are in good shape for classes, they will hold them,” he said on Friday.
“There are only a few places with water left, but many have been left with mud, rendering them unusable. Additionally, there are damaged materials that we’ll have to replace.”
“Maybe some will be forced to hold classes outside the school building just to have classes. Let’s see. It’s like that – we’ve gotten used to it during the pandemic. We’ll find a way to still have classes,” he added.
The President said the decision to hold classes in storm-affected areas will be up to individual schools.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara, for his part, said he anticipates a delay in the opening of classes in public schools that have taken heavy storm damage.
The Department of Education reported on Friday that a total of 12,866 basic learning institutions were damaged by this week’s typhoons and monsoon rains.
Some 788 schools are also incapable of beginning the school year on time across four regions, including, the National Capital Region, Region 3, Region 12, and the Cordillera Autonomous Region.
Angara, however, said classes will begin on schedule in schools that have sustained only superficial damage.
As of Thursday, 90 schools in nine regions – including Metro Manila, Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Western Visayas, and Eastern Visaya – were reported to have been badly damaged by the typhoons.
Additionally, around 324 schools in six regions are presently out of commission because they are a being used as evacuation centers.
Meanwhile, Angara on Friday led the ceremonial signing of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Executive Order (EO) No. 174.
Otherwise known as the Expanded Career Progression System for Teachers, the EO aims to promote development among teachers through career advancement.
The EO will allow five new teaching positions to be created, where teachers can be promoted further based on the merits of their service.
“This will not be time-based; they won’t have to wait for our teachers to be promoted for that long. This is also not position-based, meaning that they won’t have to move to other schools. This would also help them to focus on their careers simply to get a higher position,” Angara said.
For his part, Undersecretary Wilfredo Cabral said they are working to implement the order next year.
“We will only need to issue a few supplementary policies for operationalization, while the reclassification process continues for 140,000 teachers, 90 thousand of which will come from the Career Progression,” he said in a press conference after the IRR signing.
“All issuances that are related will be done within the year so that teachers under the said program will be promoted next year,” he added.
