Joy and concerns as Philippines schools reopen

Jhonas Doaiyne is in his third season at school in the Philippines – yet he’s never been in a classroom. Till today.

He’s never been able to raise his hand and enquire his teacher a question. Or sit close to his friend. Or even wear his college uniform.

The eight-year-old has only ever been connected to his college through a laptop or phone screen.

He – and some 27 million other college students across the country – needed to study online for two years as the govt in the Philippines enforced one of the longest lockdowns in the world to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

And now, designed for Jhonas, finally being in class means studying new rules.

“My mummy told me that if I did some chit -chat with my school mate I would be in bad trouble, ” he says.

But there was little chit-chat in the classes – even in the biggest ones – at the Palanan Elementary School within Makati, a district of Manila. The college students were focussed completely on their teacher, several diligently copying their school schedule into their workbooks.

These moments were being repeated in nearly half all schools in the Philippines. Local TELEVISION stations were full of information on the best tour bus routes to get children to school properly and glorious images of excited young children skipping through gates in brand new uniforms.

Some got even dressed up for the day in headbands that will read “excited to learn”. The hand crafted banners outside most of the schools read “welcome back, we have skipped you”.

About 46 percent of students started 5 days of face-to-face classes on Monday — and the rest may partly stay on the internet for now. The government expectations that all children authorized to go to school is going to be back in classrooms simply by November.

Yet international agencies are involved about the effects of greater than two years of on the internet learning. A recent Planet Bank report claims 9 out of 10 Philippine children still find it difficult to read simple text messages by the age of ten.

“Fighting this particular learning crisis may be the challenge of our periods if we do not wish to lose this generation of children and youngsters, ” the record says.

Here at the school, Principal Sanchez understands her students possess fallen behind.

“We were able to evaluate their performance and based on those tests we found that most of our children are lacking some of the competencies anticipated of them, ” the girl said while setting out a special eight-week programme designed to fill at least part of the gap.

“It’s overwhelming. It’s a great deal, ” said Carla, who teaches 3rd grade.

“The transition really is the hardest. They don’t know what to expect inside a classroom. Online classes had been just two to three hrs of online studying. But today, it could already six hrs of full-time face to face classes. ”

The lady explained that most of the children’s parents proved helpful full-time and that house supervision during on the web learning had been rare.

One grade three pupil admitted that she got trouble accessing the internet and kept missing classes. And this is in a well-connected area of the capital city. Over fifty percent of the country’s inhabitants, around 58 mil people, live in rural areas.

Online learning might have helped prevent the rapid spread of the virus, but it may also have made the digital academic divide in countryside areas more obvious than ever.

UNICEF defined Monday as only the first of “many steps” in the country’s “learning recovery journey”. The particular organisation has helped equip schools along with cleaning and disinfection kits.

But college in the Philippines is not only about learning. There are also programmes to make sure families are getting enough to eat.

Like many state schools, Palanan Elementary School weighs in at each child to check if they’re malnourished and hands out free lunches. It managed to get the ingredients designed for meals to families in need during the pandemic, but lastly they can monitor their students again, and make sure their capability to learn is not impeded by lack of meals.

Back in the school – in corridors filled up with colourful posters that urge pupils to clean their hands and keep their distance : the bubbling exhilaration of being back in course means many learners are eager to discuss their favourite section of the day.

Augusto from the sixth grade can’t stop involving his English and asking questions about where I am through.

“My much-loved part is recess. For me – I’m in love with food, inch a girl in the 3rd grade says prior to quickly reassuring the teacher that she loves classes too.

But of course , for many of them, being back at school means finally being able to meet up with other children.

The students stand up and introduce themselves and it has become a game to memorise all the new faces and names.

“When you get to visit classes you get to satisfy your new friends, ” says one second grader.

The rest of the class nod and clap in agreement.