THE West City Central School will implement an emergency shifting of classes to accommodate their incoming students this year after one of their school buildings was destroyed by fire last April 14.
Jemuel Galay, the school principal of West City Central School, said most of their pupils will be given half-day classes from 6 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. since more than 6,000 students are expected this year from its neighboring villages like Carmen, Balulang, Zayas, Camaman-an, and Macanhan.
"Sa pagkakaron, mao ning mag emergency shifting sa classes ta kay dili ma-accommodate jud ang tanang students. If ma aksyonan na ning naguba nga building, makatabang jud ni para maka whole day classes na dayon ang tanang students. (As of now, we implemented the emergency shifting of classes because we really could not accommodate all the students. If the burnt building will be given action, then all of the students can then have classes for the whole day)," Galay said.
He said they have not been given yet go signal by the authorities to demolish or repair the damaged building, now temporarily closed and inaccessible to anyone.
Last April 14, an afternoon fire hit City Central School turning into smoke about P1.5 million worth of 10 classrooms, school documents, tables, chairs, and books.
The gutted classrooms are located across the school's new two-storey building which will be allotted for Grade 12 students. Like the school building destroyed by fire, the new one has also twenty classrooms fully furnished with chairs, tables, and blackboards.
Galay added that if the building will be repaired, they will use it as classrooms for their Grade 3 level pupils which are one of the biggest in their population. He added though that the reconstruction of the building may take a year before it can be initiated.
Until now, the Bureau of Fire Protection is still facing a blank wall as to the cause of the fire incident.