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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16) – Private schools in the country are “dying” mainly due to the coronavirus crisis, the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations said on Wednesday.
Noting that the crisis has forced “hundreds of schools” to stop operations this academic year, COCOPEA managing director Joseph Estrada said during a Senate hearing on distance education that enrollment rates in private schools have been low in previous school years and that the pandemic has increased. he pressed the number.
Citing data from DepEd, Estrada noted that only about 2 million enrolled in private educational institutions this year, less than 50 percent of last year’s enrollment figure of 4.3 million.
The low enrollment rate led many private schools to close this school year, he said.
DepEd data shows that 865 schools are temporarily shutting down, a move that affects more than 58,000 students and more than 4,000 teachers.
Estrada noted that without government help, the private school sector could not stay afloat, as he reiterated his call to ease the “non-negotiable” requirements for blended learning stipulated in Department Order 13 Series of 2020, which He said is among the reasons why some institutions stopped operating.
“We can start in terms of political interventions. Nananawagan po kami (we have been appealing) since na sana ang (that if possible) ay policies (should be) less regulatory but supportive, ”Estrada said.
“Is [appeal] it is urgent. Our sector is a dying sector ”, said Estrada.
For his part, the undersecretary of the DepEd, Nepomuceno Malaluan, asked private schools to present “concrete proposals given their understanding of their situation,” and pointed out that they have been raising the concerns of the sector to the country’s working group on coronavirus.
Malaluan also noted that the grants under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act will be awarded to private school students severely affected by the COVID-19 crisis, as well as to displaced private school teachers.
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