GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The Department of Education (DepEd) in Region 12 will adopt several schools in Marawi City in line with the scheduled three-day special Brigada Eskwela this week in the area.
Evelyn Fetalvero, DepEd-Region 12 assistant regional director, said Tuesday their preparations are ongoing for the Brigada Eskwela in conflict-affected schools in Marawi that is slated from Dec. 13 to 15.
She said the region’s delegation, which comprises officials and personnel from the regional office and the area’s nine school divisions, are scheduled to arrive in Marawi City on Wednesday.
“We will be bringing essential materials that will be used for the repair and improvement of buildings and facilities in our assigned schools,” she said in a radio interview.
Fetalvero said they were assigned by their central office to schools outside the “ground zero” in Marawi City or the main battle area during the five-month siege of the city by the Islamic State-inspired Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups.
She said these are schools that were not directly affected by the conflict but were abandoned and closed down temporarily during the conflict from May 23 to Oct. 22.
The official said DepEd-12 was paired with several school divisions in Luzon and the Visayas for the improvement of their assigned schools.
For instance, the South Cotabato schools division was assigned to the Abdulazis Elementary School in Biyaba, Marawi City along with the Batangas, Lipa City and Qurino divisions.
She said the paired or partner schools divisions are sending in contributions in the form of materials like paint and other construction supplies, she said.
“We will be partnering also with local stakeholders for the manpower component of the Brigada,” she said.
Fetalvero said the materials that they would be bringing to Marawi are all from local donations and not purchased through their funds, specifically the agency’s allocation for maintenance and other operating expenses or MOOE.
She said they did not require schools to gather contributions from students or parents but campaigned for donations from local stakeholders.
The names of the donors were logged or documented as they would be properly recognized later on, she said.(PNA)
