It is the middle of the year 2020
now, and in the Philippines things have been different from every other year
that came before. No thanks to the global COVD-19 pandemic, regular schooling
on all possible tiers of education has been affected. Classes that should have
started last month in June are now tentatively set to begin late in August.
Even then, necessity has mandated that alternative means of learning that would
minimize physical interaction are being prepared, with varying levels of
readiness across the nation. As if understanding the difficulties of
distance/online teaching, the President is now offering a ray of hope for
schools.
According to Inquirer.net, the education sector of the Philippines has prevailed
upon President Rodrigo Duterte to give the okay for the limited conducting of traditional
classes, with students and teachers face-to-face in classroom and lecture
settings. These conventional teaching arrangements could be done in areas of
the country that are designated to be under “low-risk” Modified General Community
Quarantine (MGCQ). This was decided following a Cabinet meeting with the President
on the evening of Monday, July 20. This shot-in-the-dark idea was floated
during the assembly by Secretary Leonor Briones of the Department of Education
(DepEd).
But as the DepEd secretary
herself clarified, due to the considerations with the standard health and
safety protocols against COVID-19, even with face-to-face school learning
allowed, the actual class days for this will only once or twice in a week.
Physical classes in this fashion is for the consideration of many Filipino
students without easy access to computers and mobile gadgets with which to
avail of online learning material, and thus prevent “equity problems” in the
level of instruction. President Duterte has agreed with Briones’ proposal and,
according to Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, has given the motion his
official approval.
The original plan regarding
trying to teach students for the current academic year was that, according to
President Rodrigo Duterte, no physical classes could be conducted for as long
as there is no available vaccine for the COVID infection. This has spurred
private and public schools, especially the latter, to develop a mixture of
online and home-delivered educational curriculum for students of various year
levels. At present they only have a month and a few days to finalize their
offered lessons before the rescheduled start of classes for academic year
2020-21 next month, August 24.
With the potentially changeable
levels of community quarantine across the Philippines, even if limited face-to-face
learning is on the table, it will be “case-to-case” in execution, with DepEd
regional offices having to take cues from changes in community quarantine levels.
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