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What school children lost over COVID-19 pandemic, according to TOYM awardee teacher

By GMA News

The education of Filipino school children were among those which suffered most as the country dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic with the shutdown of schools and students having to deal with modules and online learning with limited means.

In the latest episode of The Howie Severino Podcast, public school teacher and The Outstanding Young Men awardee Sabrina Ongkiko detailed what Filipino grade schoolers lost in the two years that schools had been closed.

"Sabi ng World Bank, 'yung sa 12 years of education natin, actually if you look at the quality of it, it's only about 8 years," Ongkiko said.

"Parang 8 years lang 'yung equivalent nu'ng 12 years natin. Parang that's kind of... Sabi ko, 'Paano pa kaya ngayong pandemic? 'Di ba 5 years na lang?" she added.

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There's also the "loss of self and belonging."

"Nawala rin po 'yun sa kids. Actually ang painful for me to hear when we did a focus discussion with students, tinanong talaga namin 'yung students, 'no. 'Kumusta? Willing na ba kayo mag-face-to-face or even online?'" Ongkiko said.

"Tapos sabi nila, 'Ma'am, hindi ko alam kung alam ko na ulit makipag-usap sa iba.' Ang sakit nu'n marinig sa isang Grade 4, Grade 5 student. So may mga nawalang ganu'n na social development, 'yung pakikitungo sa iba," she added.

Listen to more of Ongkiko's thoughts about the country's education system and the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown in this episode The Howie Severino Podcast. —NB, GMA News