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Big drop in Philippines Catholic school enrollment

Lost livelihoods and typhoon-damaged schools cause fall
Big drop in Philippines Catholic school enrollment

Students at a school in Tacloban City damaged by Super Typhoon Haiyan in November last year.

Published: June 04, 2014 09:30 AM GMT
Updated: June 03, 2014 10:40 PM GMT

Catholic student enrollment in provinces devastated by Super Typhoon Haiyan has dropped by an estimated 20 percent as the new school year began this week, according to the Catholic Education Association of the Philippines (CEAP).

Anthony Coloma, spokesperson for the CEAP, said exact figures were not available but that schools in Samar and Leyte provinces had shown a marked decrease in attendance.

While students across the country returned from their two-month summer break, Catholic schools in Samar and Leyte were convening in relief tents and other makeshift shelters because local schools have yet to be rebuilt after November’s catastrophe.

Some 20,000 classrooms were destroyed by the typhoon, which killed at least 6,200 people and displaced another four million.

In addition to the loss of schools, diminished livelihoods have also made this school year particularly difficult, say several parents of school-aged children.

“I am supposed to be happy for my child. But I just can’t hide the fact that I’ll be having a big problem in supporting her school needs,” said Thelma Fevidal, who lives in Tacloban City.

Fevidal earns about US$1 per day from a small coastal shop she operates in Anibong village.

"I am more worried for my daughter. I still don’t have money for her shoes, bag and uniform," she said.

Josefina Tanpiengco, a school principal in Anibong village, said authorities should have waited to open schools in typhoon-affected areas, and that the government had not yet made provisions for school personnel, many of whom lost everything in the devastation.

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