98 percent of schools proceed with opening of classes

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the recent widespread damage caused by Typhoon Carina and the monsoon, nearly all schools across the country opened their doors to students yesterday for the beginning of school year 2024-2025.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara went to several schools in Calabarzon, one of the areas severely hit by flooding last week, to check on the situation on the ground as schools reopened.

Angara was initially scheduled to visit Biñan Central Elementary School in Laguna, but classes in the school were suspended due to heavy rain.

“The opening of classes is OK, but I’m saddened that the opening of classes had to be postponed in some areas. But we understand that because rains were still heavy earlier,” Angara told reporters during his visit to Carmona National High School.

Data released yesterday showed that 841 schools nationwide postponed the opening of classes, representing two percent of the total number of schools nationwide.

Of the number, 452 are in Central Luzon, 225 in Metro Manila, 95 in Ilocos Region, 66 in Calabarzon and three in Soccsksargen.

The figure represents about 803,824 students.

A total of 20,598,072 students have enrolled for SY 2024-2025.

“The number of schools that deferred the opening of classes is small. It’s about two percent of the total number in the whole country, so it means about 98 percent of schools opened today,” Angara said.

Many groups have been urging the Department of Education and local chief executives to consider a week’s postponement to give families more time to address their problems and provide the DepEd the opportunity to thoroughly prepare.

With hundreds of thousands of students missing classes yesterday, Angara said schools that suspended classes may have to conduct make-up classes on the weekend to allow students in affected areas to cope with lost classroom instruction time.

“That’s usually what’s done, right? If you miss the weekday, the weekend will be used to make up,” he added.

Meanwhile, the education chief said the DepEd has access to P2 billion to P3 billion in calamity funds that could be used to repair and rehabilitate damaged classrooms.

The agency estimated the total cost of repairs