The President of the US has Declared That the Covid-19 Pandemic is Over! Will the Philippines Follow Suit? Education of Children and Youth has been Devastated by Pandemic Lockdown Measures!

The Pandemic may be over, but the impacts of what has been done over the past 30 months will reverberate for generations! Education has been hit hard! Fewer than 10% of 10-year-old children can read!

President Biden has declared the pandemic over, even though the Covid-19 infection is not gone. Hopefully he remembers his declaration and moves forward with removing all remaining restrictions and repairing the damage that has been done by the pandemic measures imposed!

The repercussions of the last 2 1/2 years of lockdowns will reverberate for many lifetimes. I recall in the very early days of Covid-19 in 2020 an Australian economist calling for a risk-benefit analyses of any population-wide measures that would be imposed on live TV. She was put in her place, apparently, and I never heard from her again.

Professor Allen, in Canada in May 2021, provided a very comprehensive evaluation of risk-benefit and concluded that lockdowns caused 282x higher loss of life years than doing nothing would have. No-one listened! Or acted, as lockdowns continued worldwide for much of 2021 and into 2022.

Education Losses in Philippines

Loss of education in the Philippines has been particularly devastating! The Philippines, already struggling with educational attainment even prior to Covid-19, in knee-jerk fear shut down all face-to-face learning starting mid-March 2020, when public schools suspended education up until October 2020 (7 months); waiting out the pandemic until it could be “safe” for children to return to school [Many private and International Schools did continue with online education following their usual school year during this time].

Interrupted learning continued into 2021 and 2022. In an attempted to return to safe learning a “blended learning” approach to distance education was used. This sounded nice on paper and was meant to be a combination online classes, modular learning through printed or digital materials, and through broadcasting classes via TV and radio.

Online interactions can never match human interactions, even for those few children who had gadgets and reasonably reliable internet connection. Distractions meant many students gained little real education, many dropped out! Up to 4 million students simply didn’t enroll in the 2020-21 school year. In November 2021, it was reported that 9 out of 10, 10-years old children cannot read! In April 2022 it was reported that fewer than 10% can read! Clearly a worsening situation.

The majority of children simply could not access education during lockdowns. Only 20% of households with children had access to distance learning in March 2021!

Inability to read by age 10 indicates severe learning poverty! WB cautions that a child who cannot read by age 10, typically will not master reading, and will be not have access to mathematics, science, literature etc., which will limit all future learning and work / career options and affect health and longevity through lack of knowledge and increased poverty.

In-person school resumed in the Philippines August of 2022 for many and will be mandatory for all by October, with conditions [masking for teachers and students, social distancing, testing, quarantining and return to online learning, if any student tests positive, among others].

I know of wealthy schools in Manila, that are holding seminars with parents on how they plan to bridge “learning gaps” that have resulted from the 2 1/2 years of interrupted learning in their students; students who had access to gadgets and the support and resources of educated parents.

I wonder how students from less well-off families, attending typical schools, with 50 students per single teacher class, inadequate chairs, and books, and few resources could ever hope to catch up! The teachers will need assistance and specialist support too!

The Government has not allowed budget for SPED (special education) in 2023, apparently on a technicality? What if most of the school population needs SPED assistance? Remedial assistance to catch up with basic learning skills! How will this work?

The personal and nationwide implications are far reaching. There will be a dearth of learners ready for higher education. Less educated people! Less professionals! Less tax-payers! Less people able to fully participate in high-tech modern life!

Sarah Duterte, Vice-President, Department of Education Secretary, is requesting additional budget to deal with education woes.

That budget will need to be used very wisely. She literally holds the future of Filipino children, and thus our nation, in her hands! May God Bless and Guide her and her team!