Millions of students wearing face masks returned to Philippine primary and secondary schools on Monday for their first in-person classes after two years of coronavirus lockdowns that are feared to have worsened one of the world’s most alarming child illiteracy rates.
Officials grappled with daunting issues, including a shortage of classrooms, lingering fears of COVID-19, an approaching storm and earthquake-damaged school buildings in the north of the country, to welcome back more than 27 million students who signed up for the school year.
Only more than 24,000 of the country’s public schools, or about 46%, could open in-person classes five times a week starting Monday. At the same time, the rest would still resort to a mix of in-person and online courses until Nov. 2, when all public and private schools must bring all students back to classrooms, education officials said.
About 1,000 schools will not be able to switch to in-person classes entirely during the transition period that ends Nov. 2 for various reasons, including damage to the school building from a strong earthquake last month in the north, officials said.
The Education Department said some schools would have to split classes into up to three shifts a day due to classroom shortages, a long-standing problem, and to avoid overcrowding that could turn schools into new epicentres of coronavirus outbreaks.
“We always say that our goal is a maximum of two shifts only, but there will be areas that would have to resort to three shifts because they’re overcrowded,” Education Department spokesperson Michael Poa said Friday at a news conference. Despite many concerns, education officials gave assurances that it’s “all systems go” for Monday’s resumption of classes, he said.
Sen. Joel Villanueva, however, said real improvements on the ground must match such assurances.
“The era of missing classrooms, sharing tables and chairs and holding classes under the shade of trees must no longer happen,” said Villanueva, who filed two bills calling for additional grocery, transportation and medical allowances for public school teachers.
Among the worst hit by the pandemic in Southeast Asia, the Philippines, under then-President Rodrigo Duterte, enforced one of the world’s longest coronavirus lockdowns and school closures. Duterte, whose six-year term ended June 30, had turned down calls for reopening in-person classes due to fear of igniting new outbreaks.
Poa said 325 temporary “learning spaces” were being constructed in northern Abra province and outlying regions to replace school buildings battered by a powerful July 27 quake.
Education officials also scrambled to help more than 28,000 students look for new schools after at least 425 private schools closed permanently since the pandemic’s arrival in 2020, mainly due to financial losses. About 10,000 of the students have been enrolled in public schools, according to Poa.
Poverty has also been a key hindrance to education. Crowds mobbed the Department of Social Welfare and Development offices Saturday to claim cash aid for indigent students, injuring at least 26 people who were pinned in entrance gates and prompting its top official to go on TV to appeal for order.