FILIPINOS have raised concern on the mental health of students who face prolonged school closure due to the pandemic, an analysis of Facebook posts showed.

BluePrint.PH, a research and campaigns firm using big data analytics, said education was highly discussed among the country’s 80 million Facebook users from March 2020 to January 2021.

About 12.7 million data points, in forms of total shares, posts, comments and reactions, were gathered about education during the Covid19 pandemic.

Eero Brillantes, Chief Executive Officer of BluePrint.PH, said the sentiment analysis of Facebook posts during the pandemic reflect the serious problem of mental health of students and the digital divide between students from poor families living in remote areas and those from affluent families living in urban areas.

“The sentiment analysis on Facebook data points on education during the pandemic can be a critical tool to provide guidance and influence decisions of policy makers to address the pressing issues on education,” Brillantes said.

The top Facebook posts on education were deaths by suicide and by accident of two female students, posted separately on Facebook by the National Union of Students in the Philippines.

The post on the death of a 21-year old female student from Iriga City on September 12, 2020 had the highest data points at 196,834, of which 95.8 percent was a “sad” reaction. The victim reportedly complained about the lack of digital gadget for learning and internet connectivity.

Meanwhile, the death of a 20-year- old student from Capiz State University, who died while searching for internet signal earned the second highest data points at 148,089.

The post on “10 Hail Mary’s campaign” of the Quiapo church in August 12, 2020 earned 77,941 combined “love” and “like” data points. This was widely shared after bishops called on the faithful, including those from Catholic schools, to pray 10 Hail Mary daily from August 15 to September 15 last year.

The Facebook post about 103 students given stipend by the Mariano Marcos State University in May 9 last year earned the highest “love” reaction. However, the news on government’s decision to hold face-to-face classes in places with low Covid19 cases earned the highest number of “angry” reactions.

The Department of Education is the main influencer on the topic education during Covid19 pandemic, with 401 posts over the same period, followed by news sites GMA News and ABS-CBN news which came second and third, respectively.

Vice President Leni Robredo’s version of State of the Nation Address in July last year earned 50 percent “love” from its nearly 100,000 reactions. The post on SONA appeared in Robredo’s six posts, which earned 40 to 50 percent love reactions for each post.