President Rodrigo Duterte has prohibited face-to-face classes in the absence of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine. The Department of Education (DepEd) has set its eyes for the opening of public schools on October 5. To ensure that learner’s learning processes continue, they have turned to distance education in both public and private schools. With this mode of learning, from the word distance, students are to stay in their homes. They will use modules, videos and have online classes on platforms such as Messenger and Zoom.
Parents and students raised their concerns on the availability of gadgets, internet connection and quality of learning. There were also proposals for an academic freeze this school year. To address these, the government provided lessons broadcasted through radio and television as an alternative. Despite these preparations, public school students are not ready to have a distant learning experience.
According to DepEd, gadgets and internet connection are not required as students may receive printed copies of the modules. Physical copies may be picked up from assigned areas or delivered to their homes. They will also be aided through radio and television programs.
“These modes will be offered accordingly depending on the capacity of our learners’ households,” the department said.
In addition to this, parents are advised to guide their children. “We need the partnership, coordination, collaboration with the parents,” said Annalyn Sevilla, Undersecretary of Education. Orientations were also conducted to parents to ensure that they are ready to assist their children in their education. To check on their performance, DepEd plans to send teachers to their homes and have them consult their students through phone calls.
Many have also raised their concern on the quality of distance education itself. “This is something new and somehow, it’s something you don’t know much about,” said Melinda Bandalaria, chancellor of the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU). Online education is thought to be of lower quality than traditional learning and physical presence of the teacher is used as the basis by a number of Filipinos. For Bandalaria, the quality of education is reflected on the provided modules and activities.
DepEd’s decision of pushing through the school year led us to where we are right now; in front of our gadgets. Us, students in private schools are prepared to face the ‘new normal’ but what about those in public schools?
As stated by DepEd, parents play the most important part in their learning “more than the gadget and the online connection.” During this time of crisis, parents are working more. They wouldn’t have enough time to be their teachers at home.
With the ongoing pandemic, more people have lost their jobs and work less due to company cutoffs. Let us say both parents work with a pay of P500. According to the National Economic and Development Authority, a family of five needs P42,000 to be above poverty line. Doing the maths, they only earn P30,000. The crisis now makes it even more difficult for parents to sustain their children. They would have to resort to alternatives such as online businesses and students would have to learn independently.
The problem with self-learning is that they wouldn’t be able to understand the modules. My mom’s friend works as a public school teacher in Manila. In a conversation with her, she expressed her worries that her students couldn’t understand the materials without her assistance. As she claimed, students are continuously promoted to the next grade without ensuring that they are ready. This resulted in students having poor reading and computation skills. They still need to be physically with the teacher to be assisted.
This might follow a similar challenge for students from the private schools. Most of them, including the parents from MHCS, are busy with keeping up with their businesses and work that not much time is available to assist and guide their child in their study. Learners from the lower levels need the most attention, especially now that they do not have the help from their teachers and assistant teachers and the guidance from parents or guardians is needed.
The government could’ve an effective and efficient plan only if they were quick on their feet. DepEd’s preparations were only very brief. What happened here was that no concrete plan was made. They lacked time. They can move the school opening back to allot more to planning. This will ensure that students will really make the most of their time during this pandemic.
Another alternative, for the meantime, students may be provided with enrichment activities.
This will prepare them for face-to-face classes. Since tests for a possible COVID-19 vaccine is ongoing, it may be available by January or February. Physical classes will then be allowed sooner or later.
No student shall be left behind.
Story by Jasmine Ngo (Just my silent steps)
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