UNICEF urges government to adopt learning recovery framework
MANILA, Philippines — The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is calling on the government to implement the “RAPID” learning recovery framework as children go back to in-person classes this school year.
The framework entails education stakeholders to work together to:
- Reach every child and retain them in school: Stakeholders are called on to promote the return of in-person learning, provide cash transfers to poor families, and warn “at-risk students” early on in their education.
- Assess learning levels regularly: This would allow stakeholders to look at learning losses at the national and the sub-national level. However, this would also require tools for classroom level measurement for teachers.
- Prioritize teaching the fundamentals: There would be an effort to adjust the educational curriculum within subjects with an emphasis on numeracy, literacy, and socio-emotional skills.
- Increase catch-up learning and progress beyond what was lost: This would entail self-guided learning and targetted instruction, among others.
- Develop psychosocial health and well-being so every child is ready to learn: This means more investments in both teachers' and students’ needs.
“As we welcome children back into the classroom today, let’s remember that this is the first of many steps in our learning recovery journey,” UNICEF Philippines Representative Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov said in a statement on Monday.
“Each day spent in the classroom is an opportunity for us to improve and chart the path to an effective, equitable, and resilient education system.”
Millions of learners went back to physical classrooms after spending over two years under a distance learning program enforced due to the pandemic.
The Philippines is one of the last countries in the world to resume full-time in-person learning.
'Sustained whole of society approach'
A 2022 joint report by the World Bank, the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, and UNICEF showed that the current generation of students may lose $21 trillion worth of lifetime earnings or 17% of today’s global gross domestic product due to the closure of schools amid the pandemic.
The report is based on the 2019 learning poverty rate, which measures the share of children that do not know how to read a simple text with comprehension by age 10. It noted that the learning poverty in the Philippines was at 90.9% in 2019, while learning depravation was at 90.4%.
The report measured the reading, writing, mathematics, and global citizenship areas of students in Grade 5.
FROM INTERAKSYON: Crisis in education? Pinoys fret over Philippines’ high learning poverty rate
After three years and a pandemic, the Philippines may be facing an even worse educational crisis.
UNICEF emphasized that recovery from the lost learning opportunities would require “a sustained whole of society approach” from the parents to the government, to local school officials and community members, as well as the business sector.
The UN agency supported the reopening of schools in the country by providing technical assistance, such as providing guidelines and standard operating procedures, supporting the Bangsamoro education ministry, and conducting seminars for local government units in preparation for the back-to-school activities.
UNICEF also equipped schools with water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities, on top of other cleaning and disinfection kits. It also gave some institutions rapid literacy assessments and learning recovery programs. — Kaycee Valmonte with reports from Agence France-Presse
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