MANILA (UCAN): The 107-year-old College of the Holy Spirit Manila (CHSM), in the Philippines is set to close due to the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic and government policies that have seriously affected enrollment and how classes are conducted.
“In the last 10 years the challenges facing the CHSM and the wider education sector have become increasingly complex, making it difficult for the school to attract new students and ramp up enrollment to make it viable,” Sister Carmelita Victoria, the provincial of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit which runs the school explained in a statement on October 28.
She cited the free tuition policy at Philippine universities and colleges as one such problem.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation. The reduction or loss in family incomes, mobility restrictions and social distancing requirements, and the new demands of distance learning have adversely affected enrollment, not only in CHSM but at most private schools as well,” Sister Victoria said.
She said the decision to close was the result of a “deep and prayerful” process of consulting Church authorities, administrators and the school’s alumni.
“We are now even more convinced that the Holy Spirit is speaking clearly to us through the signs of the times, compelling us to make this extremely difficult decision: to close CHSM at the end of the academic year 2021 to 2022,” Sister Victoria said in the statement.
The congregation, one of three founded by St. Arnold Janssen, founder of the Society of the Divine Word, was founded in 1913 at the invitation of the then-Archbishop Jeremias Harty of Manila.
In 2018, Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, signed into law the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act giving full tuition subsidy to first-year students in 112 state universities including 78 local colleges. The College of the Holy Spirit was among them.
Another reason cited by the school was the competitive salary teachers received in government schools that made teaching in private institutions less attractive.
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“Private education has faced an increasingly challenging environment resulting from a significant increase in public school teachers’ salaries compared to their private school counterparts,” Sister Victoria said.
The Department of Education said that as of October 2020, 865 private schools had closed and filed for bankruptcy due to poor enrollment figures.
