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Students ride a boat on their way to school. | Macabebe, Pampanga: M1illions of Philippine students returned to classrooms for the first time in more than two years on Monday, after the country lifted most remaining COVID-19 curbs to try and reverse learning losses.
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Students, all wearing face masks, queued to enter their classrooms and attended flag raising ceremonies in their schoolyards across the Southeast Asian country as the government phases out remote learning.
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Parents and students arrive at a flooded school due to high tide.
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"For two years, we longed for face-to-face classes so even if there's a flood, we will continue our lessons," said school teacher Mylene Ambrocio, 37, as she stook in ankle-deep water in a classroom in Pampanga province north of the capital. "I am happy to see the children face-to-face."
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Precautions such as temperature checks, mandatory masks and limits on the number of students per classroom remain in place.
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The country's school closures due to the pandemic were among the longest in the world, with reopening delayed by slow vaccine rollouts and elections earlier this year.
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In November, the education ministry pilot tested in-person classes involving almost 300 schools but only this week broadened that out to cover all schools as the new school year got underway.
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The shift to online classes, self-learning modules and educational television and radio programmes has proven extremely challenging for the country of more than 110 million where less than a fifth of households have internet access and many lack mobile devices.
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Officials have underscored how important in-person learning is for the economy to achieve long-term growth. "We are committed to pursuing the country's full reopening, including the return of face-to-face schooling to address the learning losses and increase domestic activities," Economic Planning Arsenio Balisacan said earlier this month.
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