Millions of students across the Philippines returned to the classroom on Monday, ending one of the world's longest school closures amid COVID-19 outbreak.
Almost half the country's schools resumed in-person classes after more than two years of distance learning, reports BBC.
The nation remained one of the few countries in the world which is moving back to face-to-face learning after COVID-19 hit the world.
But some experts told BBC the prolonged suspension of in-person lessons has worsened an education crisis.
Around 24,000 of the country's public schools - or just less than half - will implement five days of face-to-face classes.
The rest will hold a mix of in-person and online classes, education officials say, at least until November, when all 27 million registered students are expected to head back to the classroom full-time, the British media reported.
Some schools will have to split classes up in shifts because of classroom shortages and to avoid overcrowding, due to fears that schools could turn into new virus hotspots, said the Department of Education as quoted by BBC.
