THE Philippines scored high marks in the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (Unicef) Remote Learning Readiness Index (RLRI), but many children still find it difficult to absorb lessons through online classes.
In the report, titled “Ensuring Equal Access To Education In Future Crises: Findings of the New Remote Learning Readiness Index,” a Unicef-Social Weather Stations survey found that 84 percent of parents said their children are experiencing challenges with their online classes.
This despite the parents’ efforts in guiding their children through their online classes and/or in their modules which are being done at home.
“Improving the coverage of a country’s remote learning program is a priority but challenges exist beyond the initial RLRI assessment,” the report stated.
“Efforts should be put toward developing effective curricula, ensuring the program is actually used, improving the quality of remote teaching, and advancing ways to assess student performance through remote means,” it added.
Based on Unicef data, the Philippines received five stars in the RLRI indicating that the Philippines demonstrated high performance across all indicators or domains.
These domains are household level, policy response, and country preparedness. This was measured in the pre-primary, primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary education levels.
The Philippines joins Argentina, Barbados, and Jamaica which also received top marks in the RLRI. The country also led the pack among all Southeast Asian economies.
“A five-star rating identified countries with the best readiness for remote learning and the highest resilience to crises that lead to disruption of in-person instruction, although factors beyond the assessment—such as actual learning or within-country inequalities—should guide further policy discussions to strengthen the overall ecosystem of remote learning in the country,” Unicef explained.
Based on the report, the RLRI measures countries’ readiness to deliver remote learning in response to disruption of in-person learning.
The index is composed of three domains: households, government’s policy response capacity, and emergency preparedness of the national education sector. The index ranks countries’ performance, with countries at the top receiving five stars and those at the bottom one star.