New NEDA chief wants to resume f2f classes by August

SocioEconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan pressed Department of Education to resume face-to-face classes by August to fight the long-term damage of school closures.

“What’s the cost to our economy, to our society, to our children, to the human capital vis-à-vis the cost of that risk of infection? And it’s clear that our hospitals show that we can manage the risk at this point. And so, there’s no reason why we should not open up the schools,” he said.

Based on NEDA’s projection, a school year of not attending face-to-face classes would result in P11 trillion in lost productivity of a person’s working life.

“The cost of that scarring on human capital is not going to affect us now, but it’s going to affect the future of our children,” Balisacan said.

“When they join the labor market five to 10 years from now, they will not be as competitive as our neighbors, who have already opened up, and provided better access to education,” he added.

Earlier, DepEd Secretary and Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio said that she also wants the full implementation of face-to-face classes by August.

But, President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. said the country aims to conduct full face-to-face classes by November.