Tens of thousands of Filipino schoolchildren will not be allowed to return to school until a coronavirus vaccine is available, authorities said on Monday.
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In countries like France and South Korea, where the epidemic seems to be under control, children have returned to school but the Philippine authorities have ruled out such a possibility, believing that the risk involved is too great. In May, President Rodrigo Duterte had already announced that he would not allow students to return to school until a vaccine against the coronavirus was available. " We will comply with the president's directive to postpone classroom courses until a vaccine is available, " Leonor Briones, the education minister, said on Monday.
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Schools in the country were closed in March when the epidemic began to appear in the country. More than 25 million students were scheduled to resume classes at the end of August. " Teachers will do distance education via the internet or television if necessary, " added Ms. Briones. Millions of Filipinos live in extreme poverty and do not have a computer at home, making distance education difficult to imagine. " The teacher and the school will have to adapt ... depending on the availability of means of communication, " said the minister during a press briefing.
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Public opinion does not seem opposed to this announcement in a country where hundreds of cases of contamination are recorded every day despite the strict containment measures put in place. Children are generally not allowed to leave their homes, except to pick up basic necessities or to go to work. Even though researchers around the world have embarked on an unprecedented race against time to develop a vaccine, it is still too early to know when it will be developed and widely distributed.