COVID-19 pandemic pushes Iloilo Catholic school to brink of closure

Suffering a blow from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, a nearly half-a-century-old Catholic school in Iloilo had contemplated closure, forcing its director to quit.

An article on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines news site said that the  42-year-old, Dominican-run Angelicum School Iloilo (ASIL) "will cease operations effective July 31," quoting the school's director Fr.  Maximo Gatela as saying.

“The sad part was that ASIL was not ready and failed miserably in delivering the services,” Gatela admitted in a letter dated May 27.

“As the situation of uncertainty continues, we cannot prolong the 4th grading experience throughout the whole school year nor keep you hanging in the air,” he added.

But the schools board of trustees prevented the shutting down of the institution, a separate  article on the same CBCP news site said.

In a corrective statement on Friday, the board of trustees said "the Angelicum School in Jaro, Iloilo will stay open."

Fr. Gatela has resigned as school director over the issue.

“The Board of Trustees accepted the resignation of Fr. Gatela, O.P., as director of Angelicum School, Inc.,” the board of trustees statement reads.

Learning innovations 

While bigger and more affluent Catholic schools talked about learning innovations, coupled with advanced communications technology, Fr. Nolan Que, Trustee of Catholic Educators Association of the Philippines (CEAP)-NCR admitted on Thursday that some schools may not be able to cope up, and thousands of teachers and school employees would become jobless.

On the other hand, a CBCP official on Thursday on Church-run Radio Veritas expressed doubts about the proposed shift to "virtual classes."

"So many of our young students do not have any access to the social media especially those in the rural areas," said San Jose Diocese Bishop Roberto Mallari, who is also chairman of the  CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Catholic Education.

But Fr. Johnny Go SJ, Ateneo de Manila University’s Science and Art of Learning and Teaching Institute director, on Thursday shared that amid these trying times, “we are asked to reinvent ourselves as educators. We are challenged to re-imagine education without school.”

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019, classes have been canceled to ensure the students’ safety, and the Department of Education has declared that face-to-face classes would not be allowed as schools open on August 24. —LBG, GMA News