Country : The Republic of the Philippines

Committee : United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

Delegate : Tara Inada P. Laranjo
Topic : Assisting the Recovery of Education System in Post COVID-19 Era

The Republic of the Philippines is a third world archipelagic country with over 7,640 islands. Many of its
citizens have unequal access to education and healthcare due to high poverty rate ranging from 15.5% to 17.5%
and an unemployment rate of 8.7% in 2021, according to the National Economic and Development Authority
(NEDA). This roughly equates to an estimated 12.4 million poor Filipino families. The country’s vulnerability to
natural disasters is a primary factor of the constant economic difficulty.

Educational institutions have temporarily closed down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, prioritizing
the health and safety of the constituents, most especially the students. This resulted in significant losses and
inequities in learning. In efforts to resume the learning process of the students, education systems have adapted
distance learning – online learning, modular learning, and/or blended learning, which proved to be a poor
substitute to face-to-face learning. The pandemic made us realized the value of the learning environment that only
face-to-face modality can provide, particularly the socio-psychological space and support it provides.

During the pandemic, 2.3 million Filipino children have dropped out of school and 4.4 million Filipino
students had not enrolled as of late 2020. Only over 24.7 million elementary and high school students has started
their distance learning classes in school year 2020-2021, which is 3 million lower than last school year’s. This
decline in enrolment was due to students’ family financial difficulties caused by the opportunity costs of distance
learning.

The Department of Education (DepEd) in the Philippines utilized the Learner Enrolment and Survey Form
(LESF) as the primary enrolment tool which gathers basic profile of learners as well as household profiling which
will indicate the preparedness for distance learning. This enables the DepEd to implement their Learning
Continuity Plan based on the gathered data:

i) employment status of the learner’s parents or guardians

ii) means of going to school of the learner
iii) number of learners in every household
iv) “presence of household members that can provide instructional support in distance learning”
v) accessibility and availability of gadgets and devices
vi) internet accessibility
vii) learning modality preferences
viii) challenges that may affect learning and
ix) “number of private school learners who enrolled in public schools”.

This data will be used by every region, its school division and schools in the Philippines to establish
contextualized solutions particularly on choosing an appropriate modality of learning: modular, online, or blended;
and also calculating budget requirements for resources. UNICEF aided the development of the Basic Education
Learning Continuity Plan of the DepEd and the augmentation of distance learning programs.

Hopefully in the post COVID-19 situation, it is imperative to carefully plan for the reopening and recovery
of education systems. In this process, students should have the right to actively participate in the brainstorming.
Accomplishing success relies on civic trust, cooperation, and collaboration. Education policymaking should be
centralized around equity, to meet the needs of vulnerable and marginalized communities. In other words,
contextualizing solutions supported by credible data with a long-term approach that promotes efficacy through
communication & civic trust, and flexibility dependent on recent data gathered from community engagements and
monitoring.

Therefore, we propose these following recommendations and solutions:

1. Promote the right of children to education; the significance of connectivity and the importance to
access knowledge.

2. Involve communities in reopening plans to foster trust and inclusivity by effective communication
through reliable channels.

3. Budget appropriation and directing resources to the most critical areas; public and private sectors and
government agencies must coordinate actions and resources that allow for flexibility on responses to
communities, most importantly the accessibility to devices, gadgets, internet connectivity, and educational
resources for teachers and learners.

4. Encourage reenrolment by providing financial support, school meals, and basic educational resources
to the needy children.
5. Build safe school environments; in the case where COVID-19 becomes an endemic, schools should
implement and offer certain health protocols and services such as:
 i. counselling and psychosocial support according to gender and age
ii. hand sanitizing and hand washing stations
iii. distribution of hand sanitizers to faculty, staff, and students
iv. following physical distancing
v. wearing of face masks
vi. regular sanitation of school facilities and equipments

6. Conduct a learning assessment tool to determine learning loss. This will be then followed by
accelerated learning programs to assist learners on core academic material to recover. In addition to this,
scientific and media literacy should be incorporated within the curriculum to fight against misinformation.

7. Training programs to support teachers to develop new skills, capacities, and teaching strategies,
encouraging collaboration on creating effective learning materials and strategies.

For the most unfortunate children, missing school can lead to various forms of exploitation. These
children should be identified and treated as priority groups for intervention. Through its various response
initiatives, UNICEF aims to strengthen the education system’s capacity to address the needs of children. Outside
assistance is needed for still striving country like ours.

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