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NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines – The sun beats down mercilessly on the makeshift tent classrooms in Las Castellana, where hundreds of grade schoolers, their families displaced by the Kanlaon Volcano eruptions, try to make sense of their lessons while battling heat, dust, and the ever-present uncertainty of when they will return to proper school buildings.
With no other option, the Department of Education (DepEd) in Negros Occidental has resorted to setting up the tent school within a campus to accommodate 441 elementary learners from two upland villages affected by the December 9, 2024, eruption.
The temporary classrooms – stretched tarpaulin over wooden poles – offer little protection from the elements, and when the wind picks up, so does the dust, swirling around students as they attempt to focus on their books and worksheets.
Face-to-face (F2F) classes resumed on Monday, February 17, but only for two days a week, a compromise born out of necessity rather than effectiveness.
DepEd officials said the face-to-face instruction is essential for the young students, but the present setup is far from ideal.
The initiative is a way to keep rural pupils from falling further behind, yet many doubt how much learning can truly happen in an environment where children squint against the glare, sweat through their clothes, and swat away insects as they try to write.
For more than two months since the Kanlaon crisis began, the children have been forced to rely on “blended learning,” an approach that works in theory but, in reality, has left many struggling due to limited access to gadgets, internet connectivity, and stable electricity.
DepEd-Negros Occidental borrowed five tents from the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Western Mindanao and converted them into makeshift classrooms for students from Cabagna-an Elementary School (CES) and Mananawin Elementary School (MES).
Barangays Cabanag-an and Masulog have 296 and 145 displaced learners, respectively.
The villages are among four barangays adversely affected by the Kanlaon eruption in December, as they are within the extended six-kilometer permanent danger zone.
The other affected villages are barangays Biak na Bato and Mansalanao.
Ian Arnold Arnaez, spokesman for DepEd-Negros Occidental, told Rappler on Wednesday, February 19, that each tent can accommodate 18 learners per session, which does not exceed two hours.
DepEd-Negros Occidental has scheduled four days of classes per week for the displaced elementary graders, two days for face-to-face classes and another two days for modular instruction.
Teachers from Cabanag-an and Masulog come to the “tent school” to conduct classes and guide students in answering their modules.
Meanwhile, Task Force Kanlaon head Raul Fernandez on Wednesday urged La Castellana Mayor Alme Rhummyla Nicor-Mangilimutan to submit the town’s evacuation and contingency plan in anticipation of Alert 4.
Fernandez said that among the localities in Negros Occidental expected to be affected by a possible explosive eruption of Kanlaon, only La Castellana has yet to submit its evacuation and contingency plan.
The task force said there were no designated evacuation sites yet for La Castellana residents in the event of a worst-case scenario.
Mangilimutan, however, told Rappler that the town government already has an evacuation and contingency plan ready for immediate execution.
“But what we only want is to bring our evacuees just here in town like in Barangays Nato, Manghanoy, and Talaptap,” she said.
The mayor said their primary concern is ensuring that all La Castellana evacuees are properly cared for in case of a worst-case scenario.
“Bringing them to other places like Himamaylan or Bacolod would be taxing for us. [We need] to monitor their situation and address their daily needs,” Mangilimutan said.
TENT CITY. A bird’s eyeview of the so-called tent city in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, intended for evacuees. It is now 70% ready in case of a worst-case scenario. OCD VI
A so-called “tent city” in Himamaylan City was originally reserved for 350 families evacuating from La Castellana. Each tent, designated for one family, is equipped with a rubber floor mat and solar light. It is now 70% complete.
But the La Castellana town government frowned over the Himamaylan “tent city” because of its distance from the town – Mangilimutan has yet to sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Himamaylan and OCD. La Castellana is 40 kilometers from Himamaylan.
Fernandez said Task Force Kanlaon would not contest Mangilimutan’s decision, as they respect local government autonomy under the Local Government Code of 1991.
However, he said, Mangilimutan must first secure certifications from both the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) if she intends to relocate evacuees to Barangays Manghanoy and Talaptap.
Fernandez said that based on their assessment, Manghanoy and parts of Talaptap, which are almost 12 kilometers from the Kanlaon summit, remain at risk of lava flow.
The task force estimates that about 60,000 residents in La Castellana barangays would need to evacuate in a worst-case scenario.
Although Barangay Nato in La Castellana has been identified as the safest area in case of another Kanlaon eruption, Fernandez said it cannot accommodate all 60,000 evacuees. – Rappler.com
