Rainy days and school days
Photo courtesy of AP and BBC News
When it rains, it pours and when it pours, it floods. That’s how it is in flood-prone areas in and out of Metro Manila during rainy seasons especially in the CAMANAVA area (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela) where some streets are submerged in waist-deep water in worst days.
Students and workers need to waddle through the floods to get to school and to their workplaces as shown in the picture. Yes, it’s that bad. When there’s a storm, the Department of Education (DepEd) suspends classes but if it’s just heavy rains and flooding, they leave it to the school officials and the parents.
Below is DepEd’s set of guidelines on the suspension of classes:
- Storm Signal # 1 - Classes in pre-school level in all public and private schools will be automatically suspended.
- Storm Signal # 2 - Classes in pre-school, elementary and high school in all public and private schools will be automatically suspended.
- Storm Signal # 3 - Classes in all levels are automatically suspended.
- Storm Signal # 4 - All travel and outdoor activities are cancelled.
- In the absence of typhoon signal warnings from PAGASA, localized suspension or cancellation of classes in both public and private elementary and secondary schools may be implemented by the school principal. Likewise, the schools division superintendent shall decide on the suspension of classes if such covers the entire division.
- Parents wishing to ascertain whether or not to send their children to school should check for media advisories coming from PAGASA, DepED, Calamity, Disaster and Fire Control (CDFC) groups, Local Disaster Coordinating Council (LDCC) and the Local Governments Units (LGUs).
- In the absence of official storm warnings, parents have the ultimate responsibility for determining whether their children should go to school.
- The required number of school days for the school year shall be considered especially in holding make-up classes to offset the days when classes are suspended. Make up classes shall be held on Saturdays or on weekdays beyond the originally-set school calendar in both public and private schools. (Source: http://www.deped.gov.ph/e_posts.asp?id=475)
Last week it rained so bad that my daughter’s books and everything in her trolley bag got wet. If their school only had lockers so the students could leave their books during rainy days, it would have been helpful. With the absence of school lockers, my daughter has to carry all seven textbooks and seven notebooks everyday, even on rainy days when the possibility of her things getting wet is as clear as crystal. My hubby, meanwhile, is lucky to have a wood locker in the office where he can leave his important papers and books. In our office, we’re starting to look for lockers for sale so we can finally have one too.
If there’s one thing I’m thankful of, it’s that our place of residence is not flood-prone. It may rain hard for a freaking number of days but our neighborhood remains flood-free in this part of Marikina. But as to my daughter’s drenched books, I’ll have to deal with them every time it rains.
Posted in 
September 17th, 2009 3:09 pm
Hi Rochelle, I know what you mean by “flood.” I experienced some when I was in college at UST. It is cool to know that lockers are now available for kids. When I was younger -just s you mentioned- we carry all our heavy books in our backpacks everyday! How cool to have lockers finally!
September 17th, 2009 3:11 pm
take good care in the rain.
have a great day!
September 17th, 2009 5:46 pm
This post reminded me how much I miss school and the more carefree days I had then.
I spent elementary and HS at a school which is only a 5-minutes walk from our house and I looked forward to going home or spending most of the day with my friends every time classes were suspended.
Btw, i added you to my blogroll and Linkluv page.
September 17th, 2009 8:02 pm
yeah! know what you mean, rochelle! i grew up in a high risked flood areas and spend my younger years experiencing waddling through flood every time it rained hard for days….and to make matter worse, you carry books in your bags….
September 17th, 2009 9:59 pm
Rochelle, yeah I remember the days of rain, flood and no school days. I lived in Valenzuela - one of the areas that floods even with small amount of rain. The only exciting part - “I didn’t have to go to work and kids didn’t have to go to school “!
I know it is really hard and awful, good thing you live in the area that is flood-free !
September 17th, 2009 11:08 pm
Yikes that’s alot of books to carry home everyday. Send some of your rain over here. I will welcome the rain. It’s so dry. We got a tiny bit of rain for like 10 minutes and that’s all we got for this month. How awful that people still have to travel during waist deep water.
September 18th, 2009 12:41 am
That is just awful.It is bad enough for the adults let alone the children. So that means they have to stay wet all day also. They need lockers for the books and dry clothes.
Everything is about money.
September 18th, 2009 7:32 am
That’s insane…look at all that rain. I’m sure the kids don’t complain when school is closed though.
September 20th, 2009 3:34 pm
take good care in the rain. don’t allow the children alone in the rain..
have a great day!