Survey Says 46% of Filipino Households Have Children Not Attending School

A survey conducted by the Asia Development Bank (ADB) Institute says that 46% of Filipino households have children that are not attending school because of the coronavirus pandemic.

This is the second-highest rate among 8 ASEAN countries surveyed. Myanmar led the survey with a rate of 52%.

Although, 35% of Filipino households whose schools have online options, either partially or fully, responded that none of their children are attending school. This is the highest rate of households with no children attending school in the survey.

In comparison, about 80% percent of families in Vietnam and Indonesia are attending all classes offered online.

Peter Morgan, Vice Chair of Research at the ADB Institute, said “It’s most common in the Philippines, even though online education was offered, it was not taken advantage of. And the most common reason is not having computers or tablets, not having internet connections, or too slow or unstable connections,”

The Department of Education said it expects 4 million out of school youth in the coming academic year.

The survey also stated that Filipino households were among the hardest hit economically by the pandemic in South-East Asia.