(Part 3)
Blending learning, which usually involves the pupils or students participating in the educational process while staying at home, will also have a permanent impact on the way parents get more deeply involved in the education of their children. As early as the mid-1970s, I have been involved with an active group of married couples who applied the educational philosophy of St. Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei, who taught that at the level of basic education (especially at the primary school level), the formation should begin with the parents, then the teachers, and only as a result will the children be effectively educated. This makes a lot of sense because if the parents do not support and supplement what their children are learning in school, one cannot expect the teachers to succeed in giving a holistic formation to their pupils, especially in the most important area of character or values education.
(Part 2)
We shall remember the pandemic as the period in which Vietnam surpassed the Philippines in GDP per capita. The IMF reported in October, 2020, that the GDP per capita of Vietnam was at $3,945 while that of the Philippines decreased to $3,373. Vietnam has done an excellent job of limiting the negative impact of the pandemic with close to zero death and has improved its agricultural productivity more successfully than the Philippines. It also has attracted much more Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) than we have. This post-pandemic reality of Vietnam joining Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia in leaving us behind in the GDP per capita race should serve as a motivation for the entire Philippine society to devote more resources to the agricultural sector and to remove the remaining obstacles to attracting FDIs, especially the restrictions in our Constitution against foreign investments in strategic industries. I would, therefore, dare to speculate that posi