The Philippines, among the worst hit by the pandemic inSoutheast Asia, is one of the last countries in the world to resume full-time,in-person lessons – sparking warnings that the prolonged closure of classroomshad worsened an education crisis in the country.
The prolonged school closures sparked fears that literacyrates among Philippine children – which were already at alarming levels beforethe pandemic – could worsen.
A World Bank study last year showed that about nine of 10children in this nation were suffering from “learning poverty”, the inabilityof children by age 10 to read and understand a simple story./.