Pandemic Kind of Educaton

Written by: Maria Chastine A. Yuzon

When COVID-19 shocked the world, the education sector was also the most challenged department in our country. The school year suddenly was halted when it was about to be close in 2020. It was an occurrence that wasn’t expected to be this long. We all thought that it was just be for a couple of days, weeks, and months. Now it has been almost two years.

Remote Learning became the learning delivery. No one was prepared for this pandemic. Everything has become a trial and error. One school year has passed and we learned from the challenges that we surpassed.

Children are the most vulnerable at this time of pandemic. They can be our victims in many forms of deprivations. It can be economic, social, mental, academic, and physical. The different modalities were discussed to the parents and they were given the freedom to choose the best that may be appropriate to their condition. No one can ever say that a certain modality is more effective than the others. It will all be dependent on the quality of guidance and support given by the parents to their own children.

Self-Learning Modules were given both in digital and print. There were those who also selected online instruction. The question is, are they effective enough? Modular Modality is the most obscure. We really never know how the students are benefiting from the modules provided for them in their learning. Schedules and weekly home learning plans are also given. Yet, the teachers found out that it is not enough that they would be given materials hence, they created group accounts for their students and parents to further extend the communication of the teachers with their learners. They even had regular calls for their students especially those who were not responding and viewing the messages in the group chats and those who failed to submit on time the modules and answer sheets. The worst challenge was the modules were found being answered by their parents instead of the children. A reality we could not do anything but to close our eyes and accept this as a fact.

The Online Learning Modality wasn’t easy too. Some students were unresponsive during class interaction while pretended to leave the portal when called to recite and would reason out that their signal was weak. Few parents were actively “reciting” in behalf of their children learning via online.

The school year finally ceased and since the problem still lingers, everything will be reviewed for consideration and improvement for the coming school year. Indeed, next week the school year 2021-2022 will commence. Again, the same modalities are offered. Hopefully, our teaching-learning process is better this time because we learned many things last year.

Brigada Eskwela and Oplan Balik Eskwela encourage the parents and other stakeholders to strengthen their support and guidance to their children. Their sacrifices are key determiner of their child’s success in the future. Parents are the best learning facilitators of their children at home. They can communicate with the teachers any difficulties that they will meet in teaching their children.

This pandemic teaches us many life lessons and strategies in coping with unique challenges. May we all thrive despite the tribulations that we are trying to overcome. May there be learning amidst distance learning. The absence of the teachers in the actual teaching-learning process bring many inadequacies and incapacities among learners but this tied the bonding of the parents and the children very tightly. May we enjoy our time in learning the competencies that we ought to learn. Let’s welcome the new school year with a blast.