Online classrooms will be the norm long after the pandemic is over, according to Jaime Zobel de Ayala, chairman and chief executive officer of Ayala Corp.
“As COVID (new coronavirus disease 2019) empties classrooms worldwide, online education will be a permanent feature of Philippine education because of its many benefits,” Ayala said during the Annual Scientific Meeting of the National Academy of Science and Technology last week.
He said online education is not the only answer, it offers greater convenience and enabling ways to learn from anywhere.
“Online education gives students extraordinary access to rich-content micro-credentials, learning analytics and customized instruction,” he said, pointing to Ayala University which has a 1,500 percent increase in enrollment during the lockdown in courses on finance, strategy and innovation.
“The growing pains will be steadily overcome,” he added.
Looking at trends seen from a business perspective, he said the coronavirus pandemic “surfaced gaps in several industries and accelerated transformation of certain structures.”
Ayala Corp., he said, “always look for disruptions and find them exciting” and not disturbing.
Observing a “deeply troubling” fact even before the pandemic, that six of 10 Filipinos die without ever seeing a doctor, Ayala pointed to the HealthNow app developed by Ayala Corp.
It is a digital platform to access health care from a distance.
The telecare platform had 11,000 consultation requests so far during the pandemic, with 75 medical practitioners onboard. It is a cheaper way for patients to seek and receive medical advice, Ayala said.
The company also launched last April 24 its Test, Trace and Treat initiative which will establish seven biosafety labs across the country, able to conduct 5,500 polymerase chain reaction tests a day to help improve the 75,000 daily testing capacity now in place.
Digital finance also has an immense potential to increase and speed up financial services for Filipinos, including the 66 percent of the population who don’t do any banking of any kind, Ayala said.
