Against all odds, it’s back to school

SCHOOL OFFICIALS, schoolchildren and their parents, particularly those in Typhoon Emong-devastated Western Pangasinan, are beginning the new academic year on June 1 with a very good lesson: resilience during the worst of times and determination against all odds.

The decision of the Pangasinan I Division to push through with the scheduled opening of classes despite the major devastation wreaked by the typhoon sends the message that education is most important and that even a calamity as cruel as ‘Emong’ could not distract us from the priority of teaching our young.

Not surprisingly, the national bureaucracy could not immediately release emergency funds for the urgent rehabilitation work. And with 152 schools, almost 100% of the total in the district, damaged by the typhoon, the repairs and reconstruction will definitely not be completed in time for the opening of classes.

But the DepEd already has lined up alternatives: double shifting, the use of nearby buildings as temporary classrooms; or fuse sections to accommodate up to 60 students in one classroom. (Truth to tell, these scenarios are already commonplace in many parts of the country even without a typhoon or any natural calamity for that matter; but that would be another long issue for discussion.) And the local governments and the Department of Education’s sub-offices are making the most of whatever funds are at hand to get the repairs going.

But what’s truly significant is finding communities and other sectors of society – including the police, civil servants, private citizens, religious groups, the parents, and of course the students themselves – playing a crucial role through the now institutionalized Brigada Eskwela, which is based on the old Filipino bayanihan spirit of everyone contributing to a task and a goal. Now more than in previous years, every hand is needed to put together what ‘Emong’ has knocked on the ground. The goal is both for the short and long terms.

Everyone would surely have their own immediate concerns, particularly those who lost their livelihoods. It would be perfectly understandable if they chose to attend to that first before extending a hand to the community. But what’s a couple of hours of responding to the call of the bayanihan spirit? After all, what is being built is the foundation of a hopefully better future for the community through an educated population. At the worst of times, everyone is called on and could easily be a bayani.

As for the students, they owe it not just to themselves and to their families but to the whole community to take their lessons seriously.

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