In-person classes begin with 100 schools reopening

Back to school, back to reality: A school employee guiding children ahead of face-to-face classes at Babalaya elementary school in the town of Bacolod in Lanao del Norte province, after thousands of children were allowed to return to class for the first time since the start of the pandemic. — AFP

Thousands of children in the Philippines were allowed to return to classrooms for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, as a pilot reopening of schools got under way.

While nearly every country in the world has already partially or fully reopened their schools to face-to-face learning, the Philippines has kept them closed since March 2020.