Philippine kids back in school after 2 years lost to virus

Millions of students wearing face masks streamed back to primary and secondary schools across the Philippines on Monday for their first in-person classes after two years of coronavirus lockdowns that are feared to have worsened alarming illiteracy rates among children.

Officials grappled with daunting problems, including classroom shortages, lingering COVID-19 fears, an approaching storm and quake-damaged school buildings in the country’s north, to welcome back nearly 28 million students who enrolled for the school year.

In a grade school in San Juan city in the capital region, teachers checked the temperatures of students and sprayed alcohol on their hands before letting them into classrooms.

Only about 24,000 of the nation’s public schools, or about 46%, were able to begin in-person classes five times a week starting Monday, while the rest will resort to a mix of in-person and online classes until Nov. 2, when all public and private schools are required to bring all students back to classrooms, education officials said.

The Department of Education said some schools will have to split classes into up to three shifts a day due to classroom shortages, a longstanding problem, and to avoid overcrowding that could turn schools into new centers of coronavirus outbreaks.

The prolonged school closures sparked fears that literacy rates among Filipino children — already at alarming levels before the pandemic — could worsen.

A World Bank study last year showed that about nine out of 10 children in the Philippines were suffering from “ learning poverty,” or the inability of children by age 10 to read and understand a simple story.




A teacher conducts temperature checks on students during the opening of classes at the San Juan Elementary School in metro Manila, Philippines on Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. Millions of students wearing face masks streamed back to grade and high schools across the Philippines Monday in their first in-person classes after two years of coronavirus lockdowns that are feared to have worsened one of the world's most alarming illiteracy rates among children. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)