Education experts expect non-enrolled students to experience difficulties in catching up if they miss one school year.
Non-enrolled students will suffer consequences
An analysis from, Professor Joel Javiniar, an Economics professor at the University of the Philippines discussed the double consequences on students that will be forced to skip one school year. Given that the education quality in the country is not as impressive as compared to its Southeast Asian neighbors, students that will be missing even just one school year can fall into an education pit that will be too difficult to overcome.
According to Javiniar, it will not look as simple to come back from a missed school year. A child must endure the mental pressure of having to group up with new sets of classmates from a lower batch a year before, and seeing his/her former batchmates advance to the next level.
Love Basillote, executive director of the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd), cited that for every one year delay on a child’s education, around ten percent of annual gross income is being lost. If more than three (3) million non-enrolled students are expected to miss this school year, then it will be a huge income loss for the country’s economy. With this in mind, what more shall happen to the country’s economy if the whole 2021 batch goes into an academic freeze?
The Department of Education knows the extent of the consequences brought about by the huge number of non-enrolled students for the upcoming school year. This is the reason why the department is coming up with new guidelines to cater to the needs of those students affected by the lack of accessibility to online learning. For Public school students, modular learning is already available for students that do not have access to gadgets and internet connectivity.
It is a matter of sacrificing, if parents do not want their children to miss one school year, modular learning is available, they should commit time to assist their children with school activities. We are in a pandemic, we cannot cater to every request and every demand, there should be compremises made on the other end of the bargain.
Featured image by Rappler
