ON PATROL Teachers of Pisompongan Integrated School in Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur, assist students across a makeshift footbridge over a swollen river while a government-funded bridge is under construction. —Photo courtesy of Gideon Goc-ong
PAGADIAN CITY, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR, Philippines — While waiting for the completion of a government-funded bridge, teachers at Pisompongan Integrated School in Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur, have taken on an unusual assignment: serving as “river rangers” to ensure the safety of students crossing a swollen river on their way to school.
School principal Gideon Goc-ong said seven teachers have been designated as river rangers under the school’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management contingency plan.
Their task is to accompany pupils across a makeshift crossing fashioned from a steel sheet pile that was washed away by recent flooding at the bridge construction site and repurposed as a temporary footbridge.
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