Written by: Jhanavi Ravi
Visual by: Basia Lewiniska
The Philippines is a country prone to many natural disasters, because of its geographical location, which has been further exacerbated by the climate crisis. One of the most dangerous natural calamities in the Philippines is typhoons. On November 11, 2020, Typhoon Ulysses hit the Philippines. This was just two weeks after Super Typhoon Rolly had negatively affected the Philippines. Typhoon Ulysses caused a lot of destruction and affected educational attainment in the country.
Due to Typhoon Ulysses, the economy of the Philippines has suffered greatly. It was reported that the total losses from Typhoon Ulysses climbed up to 969.8 million pesos with 40,519 farmers and over 51,200 hectares of land affected. This was a very big problem for the Philippines because a substantial population of the country is employed in the agricultural sector. In 2018, the Philippines Statistics Authority found out that agricultural employment accounts for 24.3% of the population, which is equivalent to around 9,980,00 Filipinos. With COVID-19 having struck the world this year, the Philippines aimed to have a higher percentage of its population invested in agriculture for the purpose of self-sustainability, but because of Typhoon Ulysses, agriculture has not only been affected in the market but it has been affected in the welfare, living conditions and sustainability of the people. The typhoon has led to malnutrition among children because of the lack of crops and food supply, hence affecting the health conditions of students and threatening a child’s ability to educational access in the Philippines. In Manila, around P16.8 million worth of learning materials were destroyed, with 23,387 computer sets ruined in elementary and secondary schools across the Philippines. Along with this, the infrastructures of 1,799 schools were completely destroyed. Because of the typhoon’s effects on schools, an estimated 3.6 billion pesos is required for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of schools. Due to the destruction of all of these educational resources, the economy was badly affected and it has become very difficult for the Philippines to supply educational resources and infrastructure as compensation. A lack of resources and materials makes it very difficult for schools in the Philippines to offer a good education, and the problem worsened this year with COVID-19 and health and safety precautions. With the country’s economy being very badly affected, it has become very difficult for the Philippines to recover from Typhoon Ulysses, hence making it harder for a stable education.
A day before Typhoon Ulysses hit the Philippines, UNICEF had launched its Super Typhoon Rolly appeal which amounted to $3.7 million USD. After raising concerns towards vulnerable children in the Philippines, UNICEF revised its Super Typhoon Rolly appeal and included the Typhoon Ulysses response which amounted to USD 5.1 million. There has been quite a lot of action that has been taken since this has happened. UNICEF received 115 million pesos from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund as well as individual donors. As of the 27th of November, up to 6 million pesos worth of supplies that benefit around 9,000 people have been received by children and families. These supplies include hygiene kits, water purification tablets, as well as teachers; and learners kits which include notebooks, crayons, and blackboards and chalks. UNICEF continues to call for urgent support to fill the funding shortfall in order to keep providing supplies and to respond to any forthcoming dangers that children are prone to, especially in preparation for the weather disturbances that are forecasted till the end of 2020.
Typhoons have been an ongoing threat to education in the Philippines, making it a very large contributing factor to educational inequity. Despite this, a large number of the world’s population has a lack of knowledge on the matter, which is why not enough supplies and resources can be provided to those who are vulnerable to natural calamities. To combat this issue, the Philippines government needs to take more action on spreading more information about this issue. If not, typhoons could have an even worse effect on education in the Philippines, which could lead to the economy of the country being in a bad position.
Citations
Bernardo, Jaehwa. “Damage to learning materials due to Ulysses reaches P16.8 million.” ABS-CBN News, 23 Nov 2020, https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/23/20/damage-to-learning-materials-due-to-ulysses-reaches-p168-million. Accessed 10 Dec 2020.
PearlPay. “The Role Of Agriculture: Rebooting The Philippine Economy.” PearlPay, 22 Oct 2020, https://pearlpay.com/en/the-role-of-agriculture-rebooting-the-philippine-economy/. Accessed 10 Dec 2020.
Rivas, Ralf. “Typhoon Ulysses agricultural damage nears P1 billion.” Rappler, 13 Nov 2020, https://www.rappler.com/business/agriculture-damage-typhoon-ulysses-november-13-2020. Accessed 10 Dec 2020.
UNICEF. “UNICEF expresses concern about situation of children affected by typhoons in the Philippines.” UNICEF, 12 Nov 2020, https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-expresses-concern-about-situation-children-affected-typhoons-philippines. Accessed 11 Dec 2020.
UNICEF. “UNICEF supplies reach typhoon-affected children; PHP135m still needed to cover children’s needs.” 27 Nov 2020, https://www.unicef.org/philippines/press-releases/unicef-supplies-reach-typhoon-affected-children-php135m-still-needed-cover-childrens. Accessed 11 Dec 2020.
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