Severe Tropical Storm ‘Kristine’ has left an estimated P3.3 billion in damage to infrastructure across 38,333 schools in the Philippines, according to the Department of Education (DepEd).
DepEd’s preliminary data shows that P2.7 billion will be needed for classroom reconstruction, with an additional P680 million allocated for major repairs.
Approximately 2,700 classrooms were damaged by the storm, and another 1,361 are currently under assessment, impacting around 19.4 million students and 786,726 teachers and non-teaching staff.
In addition, 1,047 schools are being utilized as evacuation centers for storm survivors, while 861 schools face secondary hazards such as flooding and landslides.
DepEd noted that extensive recovery efforts are needed to restore normal operations in affected schools.