DAVAO CITY — Learners of Sambolungan Elementary School in Talaingod town, Davao del Norte, endure attending classes under the wooden floor of the school building due to lack of classrooms.
The Sambolungan Elementary School was constructed under the Last Mile School program of the Department of Education but the fund provided was not enough to complete the classsrooms required for the 196 learners.
The school is located on top of the mountain in Sitio Sambolungan, a place then used as the lair of the New People’s Army (NPA) guerillas, it is where the biggest camp of the rebels was located before the military cleared the area a year ago.
The school is made of wood from the dead trees around. The building is an improved makeshift but the Ata-Manono children never complained. The upper building houses two-classrooms and under it is the space for the multi-grade classrooms divided by a chalkboard.
The roof is the wooden floor of the two classroms above and their ground is the soil. Teachers need to be careful because the soil is not even,.
The erratic weather condition prompts some pupils to wear rubber boots while others remain barefooted because they cannot afford to buy slippers.
One has to walk at least two hours along the cliff to reach the school.
Development is wanting and government support is needed to help the young learners.
The school has only one building with two classrooms for 196 students, a reason why Rodel Fernandez, the school principal, needs to utilize the space under the building as the multi-grade classroom just to accomodate the students.
“We need to utilize the space under the building because the children want to get education and realize their dreams. We need everyone’s help to build additional classrooms,” Fernandez said.
The first building, Fernandez said, was constructed with the help of the Depatment of Education and Davao del Norte Governor Edwin I. Jubahib.
For the construction of an improvized school building, Fernandez estimated, “We need about P50,000 because the barangay will provide the iron sheets and nails while the community will use the dead trees to produce flitches but we do not have the fund to pay for the labor and other incidental expenses.”
“We need everyone’s help for our learners to have a comfortable place to learn, I hope people from the lowland will help us,” Fernanedz added.
Last year, Newsline Philippines, together with the Department of Social Services and Development (DSWD) XI, and the office of Senator Christopher Lawrence Go, extended help to the students.-Editha Z. Caduaya
