Philippines chief economist Arsenio Balisacan urges DepEd to facilitate makeup classes.

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MANILA, Philippines — To make up for the two years of poor learning caused by the protracted COVID-19 outbreak, the country's chief economist has advised the Department of Education (DepEd) to arrange make-up sessions for younger schools as well as training for college students.

A learning catch-up plan is essential, according to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, "to help assure better chances for future generations and ensure that our demographic dividend will not be wasted."

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In the Philippines, pupils have spent the past two years primarily taking online classes, which experts deemed to be inferior to traditional classroom instruction. By November, or three months after the start of the upcoming school year, the Marcos administration hopes to return to 100% face-to-face instruction.

Moving forward, learning should be augmented outside the classroom among primary or elementary pupils and secondary or high school students, Balisacan said.

“It could be training, additional work that needs to be done for the kids,” especially in basic math, he noted, adding that the last two years of below-average education would result in human capital losses.

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Balisacan said younger schoolchildren, in particular, were “too far behind” in their learning requirements, hence they should be focused on when they go back to face-to-face classes.

Think out of the box

For tertiary or college students, catch-up training and internships should be made available, Balisacan said.

Asked if learning catch-up would entail longer school days or shorter breaks, Balisacan replied: “Why not?” [Educational institutions] will have to be imaginative.”

Earlier estimates of the state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), which Balisacan heads, showed that for every school year that students did not attend face-to-face cases, a total of P11 trillion in productivity losses would be inflicted during a 40-year period spanning a person’s working life.

The report, titled “The State of Global Learning Poverty: 2022 Update” and published last month by a group of agencies led by the World Bank, recommended a so-called “Rapid” framework to “help children recover lost learning, and to accelerate long-term progress in foundational learning.”

The acronym Rapid meant educators should: reach every child and keep them in school; assess learning levels regularly; prioritize teaching the fundamentals; increase the efficiency of instruction, including through catch-up learning; and develop psychosocial health and well-being.


Source: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/