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Opening of classes in Marawi City and eight schools in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte will be delayed for two weeks while the rest of public schools in Mindanao will push through as scheduled on June 5, said Education Secretary Leonor Briones Thursday.

“We believe that opening classes as scheduled will contribute in the normalization activities…education will not be compromised by this crisis. However, whatever, wherever they are, we will reach out to the children”, said Briones.

The delay in opening of classes in four schools in Lanao del Sur and four others in Lanao del Norte is due to the danger of fighting spilling over to these areas during the final operation of the security forces, she said.

“So far as Armed Forces of the Philippines, national security agencies are concerned they are very confident. Actually they can do it. They can, may eliminate those who created our problem but they said we have to have time to check the schools”, Briones said.

She said damage assessment of schools in Marawi City caused by government and Maute Group clashes must be made before proceeding with the back to school program.

Briones said there are about 5,000 students from Marawi City who needs to transfer to different schools.

Displaced learners are not required to provide school records, they can enroll using a Learner Reference Number, she said.

She said Dep Ed wants to relocate the evacuees positioned in school areas into a safer place to give way for the incoming school year 2017-2018.

“They should not be used as battlegrounds. They should not be used for negotiations. They should not be used to house people taken advantage of because schools are neutral bases especially children are in the school”, Briones said. Alanna Ambi/DMS