THE OPENING of schools nationwide will increase economic activity by P12 billion per week, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority chief Karl Kendrick Chua said.

Chua said that the resumption of face-to-face classes will spur economic recovery.

The P12 billion will be on top of the P16.5 billion that will be added to the gross domestic product each week that the country is under Alert Level 1.

Chua said the P12 billion per week additional economic output would come from the resumption of “services around the schools like transport, dorms, food stalls, school materials and so on.”

He said that the economy had lost P22 trillion for the two years of school closure.

Around P11 trillion in productivity losses every year could be averted if in-person learning resumed nationwide, Chua said.

So far, only 1,726 schools or 2.9% of all schools nationwide are conducting face-to-face classes. Chua said that 6,213 schools were ready to conduct in-person classes.

“As the vaccination rate of children increases, opening all schools for face-to-face learning will provide a big boost to the economy and improve the learning and productivity of children,” the NEDA chief said.

He added that the resumption of face-to-face classes will improve learning outcomes by around 50% and allow some parents to work once again.