Tidal flooding gets worse
DAGUPAN CITY GOVERNMENT HELPLESS
THE daily flooding in Dagupan due to tidal rise adversely affecting business establishments and schools near river banks is getting worse.
At least two schools have been forced to adopt a double shifting method and hold special classes on Saturdays to make sure that pupils are given an opportunity to complete the required 204 days per school year.
City Schools Superintendent Alma Ruby Torio said schools worst affected by the tidal flood are the East Central Elementary School in Barangay Mayombo and the Juan Guadiz Elementary School on A.B. Fernandez Avenue West.
Torio said pupils who are unable to go to school, especially at the Juan Guadiz Elementary School, because of the tidal flood must take special classes on Saturdays to cope with the lessons.
She maintained it is not good for pupils to attend classes while their feet are soaked in water but it is necessary that they meet the required days.
“We told all the stakeholders and the parents of our instruction that the pupils must meet the minimum class day in school,” said Torio.
She said the long-term plan of the Department of Education (DepEd) is to set a module in place that would allow affected students to work and study at home since they cannot do much else to prevent the flooding.
Torio added that the DepEd is studying policies and structure design plans that could improve situation for affected schools while reviewing policies on school buildings to ensure that new structures will be built at an elevated height.
She cited the Pantal Elementary School that was given approval to use incoming funds to elevate classrooms.
Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, through funding from her own CSI Group of Companies and the Jimmy L. Fernandez Foundation, has initiated the elevation of classrooms at the West Central Schools and at the Carael Elementary School.
The Parents Teachers Association in these schools helped in the project.
Fernandez said the Jimmy L. Fernandez Foundation is now swamped with numerous requests for a similar assistance, but she stressed that these could not be acted on all at the same time.
The city council, which Fernandez chairs, has passed a resolution requesting DepEd and the city engineering office to ensure that all new school buildings be built at a certain elevation.—LM
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