EDITORIAL— Education gets rocked

Following the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Mindanao precisely on the day classes opened last Monday, at least 1,462 classrooms were destroyed, 4,398 classrooms incurred minor damage, while another 146 school facilities were also damaged.

As per a report in Philstar.com, a total of 1,022 schools in five regions reported damage, including 194 schools in South Cotabato, 172 in North Cotabato, 157 in Sultan Kudarat, 120 in Sarangani, 101 in Davao Occidental, 94 in Davao del Sur, 47 in Davao del Norte and 43 in Compostela Valley.

The same report says due to the extensive damage, the Department of Education said in-person classes remain disrupted in several regions, with 4,364 classes still suspended as of Wednesday.We are somehow lucky that the earthquake didn’t affect a wider area --by this we mean more regions in Mindanao or even other parts of the country outside of it-- as this would have led to even more classrooms destroyed.

We got even luckier; the quake happened just as most of the students were yet outside these classrooms having their respective flag ceremonies or orientation programs. Had they been inside these classrooms when the quake struck, we are sure there would have been casualties.

But now we are faced with the problem of fixing 1,462 classrooms, and we don’t exactly have the luxury of time.

We aren’t blaming anyone for what happened. Like we said earlier, quakes can and will strike unannounced; never mind what day or occasion it is. We also cannot say that the classrooms that gave way were substandard; when faced with the wrath of nature, even our strongest edifices can and will crumble.

However, we have to urge the government, and preferably any partners it can get, to fix those classrooms as quickly as possible.

We cannot afford more hindrances to our students’ learning.

Let’s not forget that a record number of Grade 11 students have trouble reading. This is just on top of the dismal performance of our students in international tests gauging their performance in reading, science, and mathematics.