THE suspension of face-to-face classes is depriving students of quality education, diminishing their prospects of landing high-paying jobs a year into the first class suspensions, the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) said.
In a statement Wednesday, PBEd Executive Director Love B. Basillote said the longer schools hold off from resuming physical classes, “the bigger the economic losses will be for our students — future workers who are not learning properly right now because of inaccessibility and poor quality of education.”
She added graduates who don’t learn properly tend to miss out on skills that make them competitive in the labor market, making them “less likely to land higher paying jobs.”
The government announced in March 2020 the suspension of face-to-face classes days before the declaration of a nationwide lockdown, forcing schools to shift to online classes and learning modules.
The World Bank said in a report that school closures of more than seven months result in estimated annual earnings losses of around P25,700. Losses could top P1 million per student if they work until retirement.
PBEd urged the government to develop a plan allowing the safe reopening of face-to-face classes to ensure students receive quality learning. — Gillian M. Cortez