- 24,000 schools have resumed face-to-face classes and almost 30,000 will adopt a hybrid model by October.
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| Students wash their hands at San Juan Elementary School in Metro Manila, Philippines. |
The Philippines resumes face-to-face classes after more than 2 years of closed schools
Millions of children returned to face-to-face classes on Monday in the Philippines, which reopened its public and private schools after more than two years of distance education due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Since the morning, dozens of children with school uniforms and masks waited in queues to do temperature control and disinfect their hands before entering the facilities of several of the schools in Manila, which little by little resumes its "new normal".
Within the framework of the de-escalation process, more than 24,000 schools distributed throughout the country resumed face-to-face classes in an integral way this Monday, while almost 30,000 will adopt a hybrid model until October, according to data provided by the Government.
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Until the beginning of November, all educational centers in the country must have completed the transition to the face-to-face system, according to the Department of Education, which expects nearly 28 million children to return to the classroom this academic year.
The outbreak of the coronavirus in March 2020 led the Philippine government to close schools during the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 academic years in the country, which was plunged into one of the longest and strictest confinements in the entire world. world.
The prolonged closure of schools raised concern among experts, who have warned of the possible effects on the health of students, as well as the deterioration of the country's already weakened educational system.
Thus, several organizations, including Unicef, celebrated the return of children to the classroom on Monday, considering that it is a "first step" to mitigate the impacts left by the educational "crisis" and "recovering learning losses related to the pandemic.
"As we welcome children back to class this Monday, let us remember that this is the first of many steps on our learning recovery journey. Every day we spend in the classroom is an opportunity to improve and chart the path to a better learning system." effective, equitable and resilient education," Unicef Philippines Representative Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov said in a statement.
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However, the expected return to face-to-face classes was not received unanimously, as some teachers organized protests calling for the safe reopening of schools due to the Department of Education adopting a "non-discrimination policy" that allows students and school staff to attend face-to-face classes regardless of their vaccination status against covid, whose rate in the country remains well below what is recommended by health authorities.
According to data released last Friday by the Department, only 19% of schoolchildren in the Philippines have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, while 92% of education workers have completed the immunization schedule, at a time when the country suffers new outbreaks due to the emergence of new variants.
To date, the Philippines, with some 110.2 million inhabitants, has accumulated more than 3.8 million cases and 60,000 deaths since the start of the health emergency.
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