AUSTRALIAN AID CONSTRUCTS NEW SCHOOL BUILDINGS IN CAGAYAN AND ILIGAN

The monsoon season has begun and floods and landslides are once again making headlines. For many schools in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, the after-effects of the devastation caused by Tropical storm Sendong are still evident.

In support of DepEd’s goal to restore normal operations in the affected schools, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) funded a A$ 1.5 Million project – “Catching Up: School Building Construction for Sendong-affected schools in Cagayan and Iligan Cities” in partnership with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the country’s largest nonprofit as the grant recipient for the construction of the new school buildings.

The project provides for the construction of two-storey disaster-resilient school buildings with six classrooms complete with furniture, toilet facilities, and water system, and resupply damaged school materials with learning guides for teachers specifically those developed by the Basic Education Assistance in Mindanao (BEAM) which were lost during the calamity. More than 6,000 school children and almost 200 teachers from Bonbon Elementary School in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City East 1 Central School and Northeast 1-A Central School both in Iligan City stand to benefit from this initiative by AusAID.

AusAID’s standards on environment and safety such as safe water systems, facilities for persons with disabilities, and complete furniture and appliance for classrooms shall also be considered in the building design.