TACLOBAN CITY — ONE PUBLIC SCHOOL IN this city really needs help — and soon.

“Our first batch of 33 Grade 4 students last year did not have a single textbook, and an average of three students share one textbook in the lower grades,” said Juliet Lugas-Lim, 28, teacher-in-charge of the Diit-Mercyville Community School in Barangay Diit, 8 km north of the city proper.

Lim made her revelation in a report at a recent seminar-workshop in Naval, Biliran.

The participants observed experiences in implementing School-Based Management (SBM) in the Division of Biliran, one of 23 provinces in the country that implemented the foreign-funded Third Elementary Education Project (TEEP).

Among the feats of the TEEP in Biliran was the attainment of a pupil-textbook ratio of 1:1 in key subjects, such as English, Science, Mathematics and Filipino.

In the case of the Diit-Mercyville Community School, not only were the pupils deprived of books, but the school did not have basic facilities.

The youngest government elementary school in Tacloban, which started operation in 2002, the Diit-Mercyville Community School serves a community of economically deprived market vendors, farmers, and fishermen.

Four teachers, including Lim, and a guard are assigned to the school.

Lim said she had submitted a request for books last year. But she was told by her district supervisor and the division property custodian that there were simply no more copies.

Even in TEEP areas, the acquisition of books is a central function of the DepEd. Pre-requested books for schools in the periphery, when finally acquired, are sent directly from Manila to the recipient schools.

The school sits on a 3,000-sqm donated lot but it occupies only about 500 sqm because the rest of the area is a steep, rocky hill, said Dionesio Asumbrado, 58, chair of the programs and projects committee of the School Governing Council.

It has two school buildings — one has three classrooms and the other, one classroom.

There is only one toilet each for boys and girls between the two buildings.

The school has no water system and electricity of its own. One classroom has electricity, courtesy of a nearby household.

A triangular front schoolyard of about 20 sq. m. is bounded by a temporary bamboo fence.

Marden Postrero, 13, was a member of the first batch of Grade 4 pupils last year. A bit old for his grade, he ranked fourth in class. His father is a fisherman and his mother, a housekeeper.

“We did mostly review of lessons, which were written on the blackboard by our teacher,” said Postrero when asked about how classes were conducted without textbooks.

“The chalk-and-board approach was complemented with visual aids,” said Lim in explaining how they coped with teaching material deficiencies.

Teresita Gutierrez, 35, said she felt confident that her children would still learn despite the lack of textbooks.

“They are good teachers anyway,” said Gutierrez about the teaching force.

At a corner of one of the school buildings are two stacks of nipa shingles, one near Lim’s classroom and the other near the fence. These would serve as roofing for a temporary building to house the Grade 5 class this year.

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