TO mitigate the long-term impacts of remote learning on students’ productivity and mental health, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua called for the gradual resumption of face-to-face classes.

He stressed that the prolonged closure of schools will have an impact on the “competitiveness and productivity” of the country’s workforce in the future because students are not learning much from distance schooling.

“Based on US studies, online learning is only around 52 percent as effective as face-to-face learning,” he said during the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines webinar last Oct. 28.

“This may be less effective in the Philippines as the country uses other forms of learning like modules, which is estimated at 37 percent as effective as face-to-face schooling,” he added.

The NEDA director general noted that the gradual reopening of schools will help sustain economic growth.

“Our actions today against Covid19 do not come without consequences. There are also costs to future generations, especially on our human capital. Without understanding these, we would not have a complete and objective understanding of what we are doing today,” Chua said.

Management Association of the Philippines co-chair for National Issues Committee Rizalina Mantaring affirmed Chua’s statements.

Mantaring pointed out that education and training of human capital is a major factor “that will determine how a country will perform in the future.”

“With the stoppage of education, the Asian Development Bank estimated that every year that a kid is out of school results in 10 percent lower wages in the future,” she said.

“Education might be an area that might not yield immediate impact. But it is the area that will make really the most impact and the most influence on how we turn out as a nation in the future,” she added.