The first half of 2021 has been a lot easier for our schools than last year. Thanks to comprehensive COVID-19 prevention measures, such as regular hand washing, social distancing, and classroom disinfection, our schools have been able to open for the third semester of the academic year. This has been a huge achievement, considering the situation which the world found itself in this time last year, with neither hope nor prospect of opening educational establishments/school in September 2020. Thanks to the tireless efforts on the part of the schools' staff and directors, they have managed to get children back into the classroom, keep COVID-19 at bay and ensure that the children keep on top of the curriculum set out for them this academic year.
During the country's extensive lockdown, the San Roque Elementary School in the Philippines developed a system for their children and their families. This involved parents collecting the children's classwork and homework at the beginning of the week and dropping back the various finished versions at the end of week for marking. This way, teachers managed to work around the issue of internet access and their inability to hold online lessons for this reason and ensured that children stayed on top of their work successfully, whilst minimising interpersonal contact.