MANILA -- More women took online courses to enhance their skills as they returned to work after the COVID-19 pandemic, an online learning platform said Tuesday.

"We saw this in the Philippines, that broadly 35 percent of the courses that were taken pre-COVID were coming from women learners, and through the pandemic, it went up roughly about 45 percent," said Coursera Asia-Pacific managing director Raghav Gupta.

Gupta said more women worldwide took on remote work during the pandemic as they juggled jobs with their responsibilities of caring for the home.

He noted that more women wanted to build up their skills before returning to onsite work.

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Gupta said they also saw more Filipinos take online courses on Coursera over the past few years.

"I know we’ve seen about 25, 30 percent growth in terms of learners coming to Coursera in the Philippines, and hopefully we’re serving the objective that these learners have."

He noted that there are close to 2 million Filipinos on Coursera, an online platform where learners can take courses from top universities on how to improve on skills they need for their jobs.

--ANC, 29 August 2023

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