Sonny Coloma
For more than a year, Filipino students have been learning in a bubble: From their homes instead of in classrooms with fellow students.
This scenario is detrimental as it degrades further the quality of learning in the country. Before the onset of the pandemic, international assessors already noted that Filipino students are lagging behind their peers in other economies in terms of math, science and skills deemed essential for thriving in the 21
st century. Almost three million students did not return to elementary and high schools as their family breadwinners were displaced from jobs due to the prolonged lockdowns.