OUTGOING National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Karl Chua on Monday reiterated calls for the total resumption of face-to-face classes to speed up the country’s economic recovery.

In a virtual briefing, Chua expressed optimism that the full implementation of in-person classes will be allowed by the incoming administration.

He noted that the education sector has “significantly” lagged because the full resumption of physical classes has yet to be implemented.

“As you know, the NEDA mandate covers development and for us, education is a foundation of development, so I hope this will be taken very seriously,” he said.

“The repercussions on children’s present and future development are very much affected by the ability to learn better,” he added.

Last March, Chua said that reopening of schools can generate P12 billion a week and around P11 trillion is also expected to be recovered from productivity losses.

He added that learning outcomes will also be increased by 50 percent.