Time To Address A Serious Learning Crisis

At a Senate hearing last year, the Department of Education (DepEd) reported that enrollment from kindergarten to senior high school for school year 2020-2021 was estimated at 23 million or 83 percent of the 27.7 million enrolled previously.

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When Senator Nancy Binay asked DepEd Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan if this meant there would be millions more out-of-school youth, the answer was, “Yes, Madam Senator.”

When we realize that millions of out-of-school youth are from homes in which family breadwinners have also lost their jobs, the serious repercussions of the convergence of a national health emergency, a severe economic recession and a crisis in education begin to emerge.

Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) President Aurelio Montinola III framed the parameters of this crisis: