Mausoleums used as classrooms for kids living in Cebu cemeteries

Two mausoleums in Cebu City are being used as classrooms for children living in the cemeteries, according to Ivan Mayrina's report on Unang Balita on Tuesday.

Teacher Mary Jane has been teaching in a daycare center in Carreta Cemetery for 12 years. The daycare center was a program founded by a non-government organization in Germany.

Siblings 5-year-old Chelsea and 3-year-old Althea were among Mary Jane’s students at Carreta Cemetery’s daycare center.

Their mother, Annalyn Racho, said the daycare center was a big help especially to cemetery dwellers who do not have enough resources to send their children to schools.

“Yung anak mo, kung sa tingin mo may talent or masipag, aangat at aangat talaga yun kasi pag-aaral lang kasi yung parang puhunan mo sa buhay,” Annalyn said.

Mary Jane said she cannot leave the daycare in the mausoleum even after better opportunities were offered to her in other schools, because she already got emotionally attached to her students.

After her duty in Carreta Cemetery, Mary Jane will go to her second class in a Chinese cemetery also in Cebu City. One of her students there is 4-year-old John Ray. His mother Dorena, like Annalyn, was also raised and built her family in the cemetery.

The cemetery "classrooms" were first reported on Reporter's Notebook.
—Joviland Rita/KBK, GMA News