EDITORIAL CARTOON: School opening: What’s in store?

MANILA, Philippines – It’s that time of the year eagerly awaited by students and teachers – if only they had enough books to read and enough classrooms to go to.

For close to 30 million public school students, Monday, June 2, opens yet another school year that will see them scrambling for rooms and seats, putting up with floods and traffic, walking for hours to make it to school, sharing books and other materials with others, and simply making do with what’s out there.

While the government has spent money and time to improve the situation, the education sector is also going through structural changes – K-12, and new school opening date for some colleges, to name a few – that will test the ability and resilience of schools, teachers and students.

In the outside world, many of our students are more connected and engaged in their own social media platforms than in their own schools, and the challenge is to recognize this space as a learning platform as well. Technology now offers opportunities never before presented to students and teachers.

The Philippines, after all, has a young population that will certainly need all the help as they prepare to meet the demands of a more connected and fast-moving world. – Rappler.com