TWO out of the last four countries whose schools have remained closed since the beginning of the pandemic will re-open this September, leaving the Philippines and Venezuela to be the only countries left with a blanket indefinite school closure.
This is strange, really. We’ve already allowed malls and restaurants and even casinos and cockpits to operate in many places, but why haven’t we opened our schools yet?
There are quarters urging the government to work on enabling the gradual physical return of students to classrooms even on a limited basis. For example, the Movement for Safe, Equitable, Quality, and Relevant (SEQuRe) Education (SEQuRe Education Movement) cited its findings on learning loss among Filipino students and UNICEF’s observation on the negative effects of prolonged closure to school children across the globe as bases in their opposition of the “one size fits all” distance learning program across the country.
Indeed, it is plain ridiculous for our schools to remain indefinitely closed when there have been plenty of studies and successful experiences from other countries that prove safe school reopening is not only possible, but necessary. Our youth’s future and well-being are at stake, and so is national development.
Neighboring countries in Asia such as Japan, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia — have reopened their schools in all or in targeted areas amid the pandemic. Their experiences can be used to plan for a safe and limited in-person learning in the Philippines.
School reopening shouldn’t also be solely dependent on the country’s vaccine rollout as announced several times by President Duterte. There is a need to equip schools with safety measures and medical support for its stakeholders and to improve basic medical responses — such as mass testing, contact tracing, and faster vaccine rollout — as key factors in creating an effective plan for safe reopening of schools.
The government and education officials must formulate a strategy for the gradual reopening of all schools. It has already been proven that the current distance learning set-up is not working, if not totally and merely onerous to the education sector — especially poor rural children. We must move forward and plan for better ways to cope and strive for quality education despite grueling circumstances.
Time is of the essence, especially with the threat of severe learning loss and retrogression if school closure is further prolonged.
