MANILA – The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) urged Catholic educational institutions that were able to keep up with the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic to assist other schools and teachers that are still struggling due to the health crisis. “The severe impacts of the problem are cushioned by the schools working together and asserting their identity as mission-oriented institutions,” said CEAP executive director Jose Allan Arellano in a radio interview over Church-run Radio Veritas on Thursday. “They are mostly not ‘stand alone’ entities, thus, they get supported by others if problems affect them severely,” the CEAP official added. He issued the appeal as many of their members are experiencing a lower number of enrollees, as well as educators affected by the economic impact of Covid-19. ‘The dwindling enrolment as students continue to be attracted to low cost education, and the teachers gravitating towards higher paying state-owned schools affect the stability of many institutions,” Arellano said. “Many of these concerns were already present even before the pandemic, but the pandemic worsened their impact,’ he added. The Department of Education reported that a total of 860 out of 14,000 private educational institutions, including Catholic schools, in the Philippines shut down operations amid the pandemic. Earlier, the Vatican asked Catholic schools to address the challenges they are facing with creativity, imagination and openness to sharing with one another. CEAP is an organization of Catholic educational institutions and has more than 1,525 member schools across the country. (PNA)
Source: Philippines News Agency
