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Another casualty in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is our formal education system. The month of June every year is usually the time when millions of Filipino students troop back to their schools and learn. But because COVID-19 prevents any possibility of face-to-face learning, the Department of Education (DepEd) postponed the opening of classes to August 24, 2020. In addition, it has mandated online schooling in lieu of the traditional classroom setting.

Dwelling on the negative and being pessimistic about everything will not help us overcome the psychological effects of the pandemic. One way to get past the health crisis is to look at the other side of the coin. Many positives in the economy are actually emerging simply because we are already over the hump.

One of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown is the disruption in terms of employment. July 2020, National Mobile Phone Survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed some depressing numbers as adult unemployment reached 45.5%, a 28-point increase from their December 2019, survey prior to the onslaught of the coronavirus.