Schools to close, some teachers to lose jobs due to COVID-19

As many as two million students are projected to transfer or stop school as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, leading to a number of schools possibly shutting down due to the anticipated low enrollment for the next academic year.

In a 24 Oras report on Friday, the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Association of the Philippines (COCOPEA) said schools have been incurring losses since March due to the "economic downturn" caused by the pandemic.

"Wala na po nagabayad sa karamihan sa kanila so wala na pong naging tuition collection ang ating shcools at wala na halos maipampatustos sa payroll ng mga guro at school personnel since March," said  Joseph Noel Estrada, COCOPEA managing director.

"May part of that two milion na hindi magpapatuloy not for economic reasons but parents just don't want to enroll their children this year," he added.

The Department of Education said it is already expecting a number of students from private schools to transfer to public schools, or not enroll this coming school year.

"Others may be saying that there may be a drop in enrollment because parents are worried about issues, safety issues. We are anticipating there might be sa initial enrollment projections, there might be a small reduction in enrollment but we will see how it turns out by the end of June," said Education Secretary Leonor Briones.

Belen Freo, owner of the 22-year-old Edlen Learning Center, is one of the school owners who have decided to shut down her business for now.

"Hindi na muna ako mago-open ng klase ngayon. Hindi ko alam kung sa susunod na year ay mag-o-open ako kasi sa tingin ko malulugi kami," she said.

The fate of the 18 teachers employed in her school also remains uncertain. She said she has stopped paying them their salaries since April.

"Ngayon, wala rin ako mabigay sa kanila na assurance kung kelan ako magbubukas o kung hindi na ako magbubukas. Kasi kung wala rin naman estudyante, saan ako kukuha ng pambayad sa kanila eh dun din naman ako umaasa," she said.

According to the DepEd, there are currently 263,000 private teachers in elementary and high schools in the country, and 77l teachers in private tertiary schools.

The report said these teachers are not among the beneficiaries of the government's Social Ameleoration Program, something that the DepEd said it has already raised to the Department of Budget and Management. -MDM, GMA News