‘Private schools hit hard by pandemic’
THE Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (Cocopea) said enrollment in private schools for School Year 2020-2021 declined by 50 percent (equivalent to 2 million students), while 400,000 private school students transferred to public schools, citing data from the Department of Education.
The coronavirus pandemic prompted the suspension of classes in March last year as the government declared a nationwide lockdown. Distance learning replaced face-to-face classes in October.
Cocopea Managing Director Joseph Noel Estrada said the shift to distance
learning had resulted in a drop in enrollment and the shutdown of some private schools.
“If this trend continues this coming school year, then we will see more students displaced, more schools to close. That’s why this is a very critical period in preparation for reopening and starting the next school year,” he told The Manila Times.
“The primary reason for this is the economic impact [of the pandemic] on families — parents losing jobs, losing businesses. As we all know, schools are fully tuition-funded, if many students do not enroll, many schools would definitely shut down. And many cannot enroll because many lost their jobs or closed down their businesses,” he added.
Estrada stressed that a family’s capability to send children back to school is dependent on the country’s economic recovery.
“And that’s why, we all need government intervention — economic and policy interventions so we can go back to at least near-normal economic activities — so that parents could also support their kids’ education and of course in turn will support the sustainability of private education institutions,” he said.
He explained the importance of private schools, especially in remote areas with very limited number of public schools. He said the smaller and missiondriven private schools were most in need of government assistance.
“When we talk about private education, we don’t speak in behalf of the big universities in Metro Manila and other metropolitan areas. We speak more in behalf of community schools — private schools that serve their communities because of lack of public schools in their areas or because public schools in their areas are overcrowded,” Estrada said, noting many of these institutions are non-stock and non-profit whose meager earnings were just used to sustain operations.
He was grateful for the government’s interventions during the height of the pandemic that kept many private schools afloat. The Bayanihan to Recover as One (Bayanihan 2) had provided around P600 million in assistance to students and teachers. Around 54,000 college students each received P5,000 financial assistance from the Commission on Higher Education while teachers and personnel who were displaced or given a pay cut were given P5,000 to P8,000 financial aid.
“We are very happy with that,” Estrada said.
Besides economic support, the group wants the government to craft new policies that are less regulatory, more supportive and allowing private schools to innovate and maximize their resources.
“We’re bracing for worst case scenarios if the trend continues on the decline in enrollment and the closure of schools. That’s why we really need the government’s help,” Estrada said.
The group is looking for support that will allow private schools to shoulder the cost of resuming face-to-face classes as well as its accompanying liabilities that include emergency response, hospitalization and the construction of isolation facilities.