THE Department of Education (DepEd)-Central Visayas has partnered with SEEDS Asia, a non-profit organization based in Japan, to educate teachers and students in Cebu province on the importance of disaster management.
Yo Kunieda, representative of SEEDS Asia in the Philippines, said that the “Support Project on the Promotion of School Disaster Risk Reduction and Management in Cebu Province“ is their third project in the Philippines. It was started in April 2017 and is expected to end on March 2020.
“We started from disaster response after (Supertyphoon) Yolanda... from disaster risk education project, and now it’s about management,” she said during the Kapihan sa PIA (Philippine Information Agency) on Wednesday, January 10.
SEEDS Asia is an international non-government organization (NGO) working towards environmental management and disaster risk reduction. It also has projects for India, Nepal, Myanmar, Japan, and Bangladesh.
Management is very important because it’s a matter of life and death. It covers preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery, Kunieda said.
She said that three tiers are needed to achieve comprehensive safety: safety building, school disaster risk reduction management, and risk reduction education.
Kathleen Almonte, local project manager of SEEDS Asia-Cebu, stated that the reason they chose Cebu as a venue for their project is because they thought that the province, particularly in the northern part, needed more support than other regions that have previously received much help.
“When we went to the schools and asked the principals if they have any preparedness measures for disasters… most of them answered ‘earthquake drills and fire drills’, but no other preparedness measures. So that’s when we realized it’s time to introduce disaster risk reduction education for the schools,” Almonte said.
SEEDS Asia received project funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica)-Kansai International Center, and is partnering with Hyogo Prefectural Board of Education and DepEd national and regional office.
The target areas of the current project are Daanbantayan town and the cities of Bogo, Carcar, Cebu, Danao, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Naga, Talisay, and Toledo.
“We are still laying down the groundwork for the current project. 120 teachers will be undergoing a five-day training this April, not in Cebu, but somewhere secluded where they can concentrate well,” said Almonte.
Dr. Theron Abel Aranas, Division DRRM Coordinator of DepEd-Cebu, said that it is necessary to start educating the teachers because their instruction is what the students’ response will depend on.
“We first train the teachers kay ang mga bata, mutuo gyud na sila sa teacher. (We train the teachers first because the students will definitely follow them),” Aranas said, adding that it is essential to first have a cultural change among Filipinos.
The project is targeting public elementary and high schools in the province.
“At this age, it’s important to start earlier to have knowledge about DRR (Disaster Risk Reduction),” Kunieda said.
One of the pilot schools of the project is the Cebu City Central Elementary School (CCCES), said Reum Sespeñe, DepEd-Cebu Senior Education Program specialist, officer-in-charge and social mobilization chief.
Aranas said CCCES is vulnerable to disasters as it is a high-rise building with a small area found in the center of the city and is attended by thousands of students from different barangays, making it a suitable beneficiary for the project.
Aside from CCCES, Beatriz D. Durano Memorial National High School (Danao), Daanbantayan Central Elementary School (Daanbantayan), Marigondon National High School (Lapu-Lapu), City of Bogo Science and Arts Academy (Bogo), Uling Elementary School (Naga), Paknaan National High School (Mandaue), Carcar City Central Elementary School (Carcar), Talavera Elementary School (Toledo), Tabunoc Central School (Talisay) are also among the project’s pilot schools.
SEEDS Asia’s local project manager also stated that the success of the project is not in the hands of SEEDS Asia alone but is based on the reception of their beneficiaries and partners.
“Deducing disaster risk is not just a job for an NGO like us. It’s more on all of us contributing towards disaster preparedness. All hands has to be on deck because one sector cannot do it alone. The cooperation of everyone is very much needed,” Almonte said.
“The challenge is the cooperation of our partners because we don’t teach them directly. We first teach the core team who will teach the teachers before the teachers cascade the information to their students, who will then share their knowledge to their parents,” Kunieda said. (Erica Jill Dancel and Lawrice Glee Eltagonde, USC AB Communications Interns/SunStar Philippines)