Millions of children in the Philippines have gone back to school since the COVID-19 crisis.

The Philippines is among the latest countries in the world to resume face-to-face and face-to-face classes after a long closure, raising fears that the education situation in a country already in crisis will worsen.

Following the closure of schools in the Philippines, an educational program was created based on printed lessons, as well as other materials broadcast on television and on social networks.

Before schools reopened, the government stepped up its COVID vaccination campaign and announced it would make transportation free for all students by the end of the year.

The government has provided sums of money to students and their families to help them with their expenses, which has created chaos in front of aid distribution centers.

With schools reopening, pre-health crisis challenges are resurfacing, including large student populations, outdated teaching methods and even a lack of necessary infrastructure.

The World Bank and other agencies said in a recent report that even before the outbreak began, nine out of ten children in the Philippines could not “read and understand plain text” after their 10th birthday.

There are only ten countries where the education situation is worse than in the Philippines, including Afghanistan, Laos, Chad and Yemen.