Govt struggles to re-open schools after deadly floods

       Efforts to open schools in Manila for the first time since deadly floods descended into chaos yesterday,with some remaining under water and others occupied by homeless survivors with nowhere else to go.
       The situation at schools in the worsthit parts of the Philippine capital reflected wider problems in the government's response to the disaster, nine days after the heaviest rains in more than 40 years killed nearly 300 people.
       As students were turned away from schools, mountains of debris were festering around Manila, and more than 300,000 people remained in evacuation centres. One part of the city's outskirts was expected to be submerged into the new year.
       "We were instructed to resume classes today but look around, the situation will likely not allow it," said Eliza Servesa,assistant principal at H. Bautista Elementary School in suburban Marikina.
       Only three students in mismatched uniforms and carrying books salvaged from the floods arrived for morning classes, whereas before the disaster the school bustled with 3,500 children.
       Marikina was hit hard by tropical storm Ketsana, which produced flood waters that rose 6m high and washed away entire neighbourhoods along river banks.Nearly 3.9 million people were affected.In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the government closed all schools in Manila for one week and allowed many of them to become makeshift evacuation centres for people whose homes were flooded or destroyed.
       Late last week, almost 700,000 people were seeking refuge in such shelters.The government said yesterday that 319,000 people in these shelters still had nowhere else to go.
       At the H. Bautista Elementary School,many of the nearly 5,000 people who initially sheltered there had already left,but between 300 and 500 remained.
       "We can't force them to leave. That is against humanitarian principles," Ms Servesa said.
       At the nearby Santa Elena High School,only about 20% of its 5,000 students showed up. Principal Elizalde Cena sent them home at midday as teaching was impossible in the mud-filled classrooms.
       "All our records were lost. I have yet to begin doing a proper accounting of my students," Ms Cena said.
       Pateros mayor Joey Medina has ordered its 10 public schools to resume classes tomorrow,"to give our school and local government officials sufficient time to clean up and ensure the safety of the returning students".