The Philippines will fully reopen all schools in November for the first time in more than two years, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said Tuesday, as experts warn of a growing education crisis sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The country is one of the last in the world to resume full-time in-person classes since the pandemic began, with schools shuttered in March 2020 in tandem with lengthy lockdowns.
The UN children’s agency has warned that school closures have caused enormous losses in education around the world, with some governments slow to reopen classrooms even as vaccination rates increased.
“We have a plan for full face-to-face (schooling) by November of this year,” Marcos told his first news conference after being sworn in as the country’s leader.
“Let’s get this done quickly. Of course, we’re careful but we’re always in a hurry because we have to get much done in very little time,” he said.
Marcos said school reopenings will start in September and ramp up rapidly over the next two months, accompanied by a vaccination campaign.
About 64 percent of the country’s population of 110 million are fully vaccinated.
Alliance of Concerned Teachers secretary-general Raymond Basilio welcomed the new government’s announcement.
“Our teachers have seen a terrible loss of learning since 2020 that is exacerbating poverty,” he said.
Basilio said some teachers in the association had complained that a number of elementary and even high school students still could not read or write.
He told Agence France-Presse the government’s “blended” learning program – involving online classes, printed materials, and lessons broadcast on television and social media — was “problematic.”
Modules were poorly vetted and young Filipinos had limited internet access, he said.
Marcos made the announcement after the first Cabinet meeting under his administration.
“There are some things immediately accessible we can start doing something about it already,” the President said in a news briefing after the Cabinet meeting.
“The first thing that is an example of that is Inday Sara’s announcement that we have a plan for full face-to-face by November of this year,” he added, referring to Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, the concurrent Education Secretary.
Marcos said vaccination against COVID-19 and other issues would be raised ahead of the planned face-to-face classes in all elementary and high schools.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte – Sara’s father — allowed children to return to classrooms in just 100 schools out of more than 61,000 in November last year but ruled out a full resumption before his term ended last month, citing health concerns.
The policy was seen by critics as exacerbating an education crisis in the country.
A report published jointly last month by UNICEF and other agencies said the pandemic had increased “learning poverty” by a third in low-and middle-income countries, with an estimated 70 percent of 10-year-olds unable to understand a simple written text.
“Put in strictly economic terms, unless we take action to recover learning, this generation of students is at risk of losing $21 trillion in potential lifetime earnings,” UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell said last month.
Last year, 15-year-olds in the Philippines were at or near the bottom in reading, mathematics, and science, according to OECD data.
Duterte-Carpio earlier held transition talks with former Education Secretary Leonor Briones.
The Vice President said she had looked at the possibility of a full resumption of face-to-face classes even as the country remains under a state of public health emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She also disclosed discussing with the President the possible review of the implementation of the K-to-12 program in schools.
“It is something that President Marcos and I have talked about. And he already gave instructions with regard to the review of the implementation of the K-to-12 program of the Department of Education,” Duterte-Carpio said.
The K-to-12 curriculum, first introduced in 2011 and implemented during the administration of the late President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, has been under review for the past two years.
