'We have to do something': Philippine schools, students grapple with floods as climate change forces them to adapt
Considered the largest scientific study of its kind, a 2021 survey of 10,000 youth from 10 countries showed that the Philippines has the highest level of eco-anxiety or psychological distress due to the climate crisis.
A boy walks outside a flooded school from Typhoon Noru in San Miguel town, Bulacan province, Philippines, Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. Typhoon Noru blew out of the northern Philippines on Monday, leaving some people dead, causing floods and power outages and forcing officials to suspend classes and government work in the capital and outlying provinces. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
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PAMPANGA AND TARLAC, the Philippines: A loss and damage fund that attracted millions of dollars in pledges as the world came together for the COP28 summit in Dubai may benefit communities on the brink of being wiped out as sea levels rise.
The fund aims to provide financial assistance to nations most vulnerable and impacted by the effects of climate change.
But as advocates push to make polluters pay and phase out fossil fuel, climate change-induced woes are already lived realities in many Philippine communities, including children there.
In Macabebe town in Pampanga province, a riverside island community northwest of the capital Manila, for instance, families prepare their children for floods during high tide, and classrooms are visibly damaged by recurring floods.
The Philippines tops the 2023 World Risk Index, which ranks 193 countries in terms of their vulnerability to extreme natural events.
The country is also Southeast Asia’s most typhoon-prone country, hit by a yearly average of 20 typhoons.
To have a direct hand in bringing about change for its people, the Philippines wants to host the fund, hoping to have a seat on the Loss and Damage Fund Board and calling for its immediate operationalisation.
THE REALITY FOR SCHOOLS, STUDENTS
At San Esteban Elementary School in Macabebe, in-person classes are suspended each time floods reach classrooms. The floods have impacted the students’ learning.
“Some students fail to meet certain competencies due to frequent flooding,” school head Marlon Mercado told CNA.
“We developed separate blueprints of learning for them last school year, so they can catch up.”
Some schools are more gravely affected by climate change than others.
For instance, at San Gabriel Elementary School in Macabebe town in Pampanga province, northwest of Manila, grounds are submerged all year round due to flooding.
Students use a makeshift wooden bridge to get from one building to another while teachers and parents assemble in the few elevated areas. For now, the school needs its footbridge made of old wood planks cemented for the safety of the learners.
Locals say the round-the-clock flooding started after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo more than 30 years ago, which turned rice farms and private lots into swamps.
School head Eufemia Castro told CNA that relocating the school would be a challenge.
“Relocating the school is a good idea, but nearly the entire town is flooded. Where can we be relocated?” she asked rhetorically.
Mr Christian Rivero, director of the Education Department’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service admits there is a need for better-designed classrooms in the Philippines but said funding is a challenge.
“We want for instance, campuses or areas wherein we could build classrooms, which are with limited or no hazards, but the question is, where are the buildable spaces?” he asked.
“The land now is very expensive, even here in Metro Manila. Because in the absence of buildable space, much as you want to build more classrooms, you just have to innovate.”
However, a large-scale study has found that such environmental issues weigh heavily on the country’s youth.
IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON YOUTH
Considered the largest scientific study of its kind, a 2021 survey of 10,000 youth from 10 countries showed that the Philippines has the highest level of eco-anxiety or psychological distress due to the climate crisis.
As the Department of Education is the Philippines’ largest government agency, managing over 40,000 public schools and accounting for over half the bureaucracy, Mr Rivero considers climate adaptation measures in schools non-negotiable.
While acknowledging that climate change is a cross-border concern, Mr Rivero, who is also a lawyer, put emphasis on individual agencies in climate action.
“If you look at the data, the carbon footprint of the developing countries is actually minimal ... But we are at the frontline of the climate change impact. We are the ones who are bearing the brunt of all these changes,” he told CNA.
“But we are not exactly helpless. We have to do something, and we have to increase the consciousness.”
RESILIENT SCHOOLS
Every Philippine school across the nation is supposed to have a disaster risk reduction and management coordinator to deal with climate risks in the country.
Some schools, like Guevara High School in Tarlac province north of Manila, also have a Child Empowered and Resilient Team.
It is one of two schools selected among the over 500 schools in the province for being more prone to floods and landslides. Under the pilot programme, student team members are trained in hazard identification, disaster risk reduction and mitigation.
One student, 18-year-old Reynaldo Raiz, said: "It is flood-prone here during typhoons. My involvement (in the team) taught me to prepare an emergency kit at home, unlike before when we didn’t have one."
Their student-based resilience team also conducts bi-annual hazard mapping in their school through a mobile app that was developed by humanitarian group Save The Children, which then automates the collation process by their adviser.
CNA watched as students mapped the hazards in their school, revealing many issues such as busted light bulbs, broken door knobs and exposed electrical cables.
Mr Omar Dimarucot, project development officer of the education department’s Tarlac Schools Division, said their division is allocating 5 per cent of their yearly budget from government-allocated funds for disaster risk reduction and mitigation. However, minor school repairs are not yet included in this allocation.
The Philippine government is banking on the construction of the so-called Pampanga River Floodway and San Antonio Swamp Ring Dike by 2024 to address flooding problems.
Additional reporting by Faye Sales
