Orderly, peaceful opening of classes

Abdon D. Aguilar

The opening of the new school year was generally peaceful, and the United National Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said the return of face-to-face classes is the “first of many steps” in learning recovery.

This as the UNICEF lauded the return of students to the classroom and commended the Philippine government for taking “decisive steps” to reopen in-person schooling.

According to UNICEF, each day spent in the classroom is an opportunity for them to improve and chart the path to an effective, equitable, and resilient education system.

Learners across the country started another school year on Aug. 22, with blended learning or a combination of face-to-face and online classes in place until October 31. Mandatory in-person classes will start on November 2.

The UNICEF said “prolonged school closures, poor health risk mitigation, and household-income shocks” had the biggest impact on learning poverty, resulting in children failing to read and understand a simple text by the age of 10.

Faring far worse are vulnerable children such as children with disabilities, children living in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas, and children living in disaster and conflict zones, it said.

The UNICEF also commended the Department of Education (DepEd), the Early Childhood Care and Development Council, among other partners, for the return of F2F classes.

UNICEF said it supports the safe reopening of all schools and early learning centers in the Philippines by providing technical assistance through guidelines and standard operating procedures, orienting local governments in reopening pre-schools, providing schools with water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities and cleaning and disinfection kits, and conducting rapid literacy assessments and learning recovery programs.

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The author is Assistant School Principal II at Sapangbato National High School