PASAY CITY -- At a briefing of the Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) on the proposed 2022 National Expenditure Program (NEP), Senator Win Gatchalian flagged both the education and economic scars that will result from prolonged school closures because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gatchalian, who has been pushing for the pilot testing of limited face-to-face classes-in low-risk areas, cited a 2020 report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which said that the present value cost of face-to-face closure is estimated at P1.9 trillion for School Year 2020-2021 or an equivalent of over 10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

"It's not only scarring the learner himself or herself, but also scarring the economy through productivity losses." Gatchalian said of the prolonged school closures.

According to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) clarified these figures with the ADB which stated that the cost of yearlong school closures could be higher than initially estimated. For its part, NEDA estimates that because of yearlong school closures, productivity lost in the next 40 years will amount to P11 trillion.

Gatchalian also cited other findings of the ADB, which reported that for K-12 students, the net present value of lost productivity is P1.68 trillion. The ADB also said that assuming 50% or approximately 200,000 of 410,000 teachers and personnel in private schools lost their jobs, wage loss for School Year 2020-2021 is estimated at P16 billion.

Considering that at least one adult had to supervise a student for home-based learning, 11% of the workforce had to stop working, which cost the economy a total of P225 billion for one school year, said the ADB.

"I believe that some of our students will not go back to school because last year, we lost close to 2 million students who dropped out of school, including the Alternative Learning System. My fear is that these students will not go back to school anymore, creating a huge scar in terms of our workforce," added the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic also accelerated the utilization of technology, Gatchalian also raised the need for programs such as workers' upskilling to proactively support the transition of sectors, especially micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), to the post-COVID economy. (OSWG)

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