Conduct of Story Writing on Disaster and Recovery Efforts as Part of the Observance of the World Humanitarian Day

August 5, 2016

DepEd Memorandum No. 121, s. 2016

Conduct of Story Writing on Disaster and Recovery Efforts as Part of the Observance of the World Humanitarian Day

To:

Regional Secretary, ARMM
Regional Directors
Schools Division Superintendents
Public and Private Elementary and Secondary Schools Heads
All Others Concerned

1. The Department of Education (DepEd), through the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service (DRRMS), shall engage all schools at all levels in its efforts of gathering learners’ and teachers’ personal anecdotes through a story writing activity.

2. The activity aims to:

a. collect personal accounts about disasters and recovery efforts from schools nationwide;

b. consolidate any Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) best practice that shall arise thereof; and

c. compile the top 100 stories in an Information, Education and Communication (IEC) material, which will be shared to DepEd offices and schools.

3. This activity supports DepEd Order No. 37, s. 2015 entitled The Comprehensive Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) in Basic Education Framework, which seeks to guide DRRM efforts in the basic education sector towards resilience-building of offices and schools, and to ensure that quality education is continuously provided and prioritized even during disasters and/or emergencies.

4. The Guidelines on the implementation of the Story Writing Activity on Disasters and Recovery Efforts are enclosed.

5. Schools division superintendents and division DRRM coordinators shall enjoin their school heads to plan and enlist all learners and teachers with experience of any type of disaster. Likewise, school heads shall encourage their learners and teachers to participate in the story writing activity.

6. For more information, all concerned may contact:

Mr. Jose Gabriel Noveno
Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service (DRRMS)
DepEd Central Office
5th Floor, Mabini Building, DepEd Complex Meralco Avenue, Pasig City
Telephone Nos.: (02) 637-4933; (02) 637-4606
Email Address: jose.noveno@deped.gov.ph

7. Immediate dissemination of this Memorandum is desired.

LEONOR MAGTOLIS BRIONES
Secretary

Read:

1. DM 120, s. 2016 – Designation of Regional Focal Person fro DOLE-DEPED-TESDA-CHED Interagency Committee
2. DM 119, s. 2016 – Dissemination of Executive Order No. 2 (Operationalizing in the Executive Branch the People’s Constitutional Right to Information and the State Policies of Full Public Disclosure and Transparency in the Public Service and Providing Guide

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(Enclosure to DepEd Memorandum No. 121, s. 2016)

GUIDELINES ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STORY WRITING ACTIVITY ON DISASTERS AND RECOVERY EFFORTS

1. In light of the story writing activity of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service (DRRMS), the following roles and responsibilities of the DRRM coordinators of all levels must be observed:

Regional DRRM coordinators:

• identify divisions which have experienced any kind of disaster in the past;
• meet the identified divisions’ school division superintendents or their representatives in order to create a secretariat to facilitate the enlisting of the schools that will participate in the stoiy writing; and
• lead the division offices in consolidating the stories from the schools and provide them with technical assistance, as needed.

Division DRRM coordinators:

• identify schools which have experienced any kind of disaster in the past;
• coordinate with school heads in enlisting the learners and teachers who will write their personal accounts or accounts of friends/relatives about their experiences in disasters and recovery efforts;
• consolidate the stories submitted by the schools and endorse them to the DRRMS; and
• monitor the completion of submissions relative to the enlisted schools.

2. For the purpose of documentation and monitoring of the activity, the enlisted schools are required to do the following:

• to avoid disruption of classes during the story writing activity, the school head can employ one of the following methods for the learners:

1. conduct the activity as a special project for chosen learners who shall participate in the aforementioned event; or
2. ask the learners to write their stories during their English or Filipino subject period.

• ask the learners, parents of learners under 18 years old, and/or teachers to sign a consent form which indicates their willingness to share their experiences and learnings, and permission to take pictures of them, and have them compiled in an Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) material;
• learners and teachers may opt to change certain details of the story if they are uncomfortable with using the real names of community members or if the stoiy may bring unwanted attention to themselves/their families and relatives;
• learners and teachers that gave their consent but suddenly had a change of heart must signify their desire to retract their stories by sending a letter of intent to retract submission addressed to the DRRMS (using the contact details provided below) no later than 15 working days after the deadline indicated in this memorandum. The letter must contain all necessary details of the submission to be retracted including school ID, school name, division name, region name, title of submission, and name of writer to assist the DRRMS in locating the said story/ies to be retracted. All letters of intent received by schools should then be forwarded to the DRRMS by the indicated deadline for appropriate action. The DRRMS cannot guarantee the retraction of stories of learners and teachers who submit their letter after the 15 day leeway;
• each submission will represent the learner and/or teacher and shall be acknowledged afterwards through the published IEC material;
• handwritten submissions must be put in an A4-sized (8.27” x 11.69”) paper using black colored ink and must be scanned and saved as a .pdf file; typewritten submissions must be saved as an MS Word file (.doc or .docx) in an A4-sized document using Arial font, size 12, and 1” margin on all sides;
• pictures of the learners and/or teachers, if any, must be included in the files as annexes
• all submissions must be saved in a folder in the following format:

1. [school ID school name_name of participant_date-yyyymmdd] ex. 102468_San Juan ES_Juan dela Cruz_20160722

• submissions must be sent to the division office on or before August 31, 2016.

3. The DRRMS shall compile all stories from the participating divisions and from them choose one hundred (100) personal accounts using the following criteria:

• Application of best practices during and after a disaster;
• Recovery efforts made in order to attain return to normalcy; and
• Uniqueness of story.

4. An IEC material which contains the chosen stories and pictures shall be created and shared to the DepEd offices and schools via soft copy uploaded online.

5. All consolidated stories should be submitted by September 9, 2016 while all letters of intent to retract submission should be submitted by September 30, 2016 addressed to Dir. Ronilda R. Co, Director IV of the DRRMS via email address at d rnmx?7;d e ped. gov. ph. For further clarifications, please contact Mr. Jose Gabriel Noveno at 637-4933 and 637-4606 or email at iose.novenoft’/Kieped.gov.ph.