EDUCATION Secretary Armin Luis-tro announced on Tuesday that the Department of Education (DepEd) has released over P2 million, to buy school supplies for students affected by typhoon Pablo

(international codename: Bopha) in the provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental, as classes resumed on January 3.

“We have received some P2.7 million in cash given by donors from within and outside DepEd to help the survivors—especially our school children—pick up the pieces, so to speak,” Luistro said in a statement.

According to DepEd, some schools are still being used as evacuation centers to thousands of homeless families. School personnel and government officials, along with donors from private and international communities, set up tents to conduct psychosocial intervention for the typhoon survivors.

“It is important that children and adults go through this debriefing process for them to begin to understand and accept what had happened,” Luistro explained.

Meanwhile, other donations in cash and in kind are being readied for shipment in the affected areas.

The Education department also thanked its partners and donors, which include Globe Telecoms, Plan International, Save the Children, Unicef, World Vision and Red Cross.

Major school supplies donors include National Book Store Foundation Inc., Centurian International Corp., Bio-Strata Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Papermate Stationery and Office Supplies.

The Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. has donated educational toys, while Lamoiyan Corp. gave packs of shampoo and toothpaste. All of these will be given to affected kids in the two provinces.

The department continues to appeal for more donations in order to provide for learning kits for over 200,000 student victims.