Neda chief for resuming in-person classes; Manila slowly allows them

Acting NEDA Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s chief economist is pushing vigorously for the resumption of in-person classes and sees its possibility in the coming school year in areas where COVID-19 risks are low.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua made his pitch anew on Wednesday before being confirmed by the Commission on Appointments, saying that certain issues needed correction to avert long-term effects.

“My concern… is there are some actions … which we should correct as soon as possible. For one, we have not restarted face-to-face schooling. It’s going to have long-term effects on learning and productivity,” said Chua, who heads the state planning agency, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

“I think we are still early. We can do corrective action and at the same time manage the health crisis so that we minimize the long-term effect, or scarring,” he said.

Last Saturday the Inquirer asked the Neda chief if the coming school year would be a good time to resume in-person classes. He replied: “It looks more likely, given the number [of Filipinos] being vaccinated.”

He added: “We can start in the lowest-risk areas.”

4 more universities

In Manila, Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso has approved in-person classes in four more universities and colleges offering medical and allied health courses, on their request.

These are the University of the Philippines Manila, Emilio Aguinaldo College, St. Jude College and National University.

According to the joint memorandum circular No. 2021-001 of the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Health, higher education institutions in areas under general community quarantine (GCQ)and modified GCQ may be allowed to resume face-to-face classes subject to the national government’s safety protocols against COVID-19.

These protocols include restricting the number of students at a given time, shifting or rotating class schedules, and strictly observing physical distancing.

Earlier, this year, the city government allowed in-person classes at the Metropolitan Medical Center, Manila Theological College, Chinese General Hospital Colleges, Centro Escolar University, University of Santo Tomas and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.

Domagoso encouraged the schools to roll out campus vaccination once the national government starts the inoculation of economic front-liners.

Both students, parents

Since late last year Chua had been calling for the resumption of face-to-face classes in areas with low infection rates. But with the emergence of contagious COVID-19 variants, President Duterte stopped the Department of Education pilot that had been scheduled at the start of 2021.

Chua had earlier said that it was not only the students who were struggling with distance learning given the slow internet connection in the country. He said parents assisting their children in online classes were also struggling, especially mothers who would otherwise spend the time working to augment the family income during the harder times wrought by the pandemic.

In a report published last week, the World Bank urged the Philippine government to allow in-person classes for pupils whose parents consent to the arrangement.

An additional 1.6 million Filipino schoolchildren were unable to enroll this year, and those who did had to “face many challenges to effective learning under the current distance-learning modality,” especially those from poor households that lacked internet connection and mobile equipment, the World Bank said.

It said distance learning had “limited effectiveness” and possibly jacked up “learning poverty,” or the share of 10-year-olds who could not read or understand a simple story in 2020.

In 2019, the prepandemic learning poverty in the Philippines was already at a high of 69.5 percent.