Education system in the Philippines is on its smooth implementation of all the programs, activities and curriculum in all schools until this pandemic called COVID-19 came into the picture of education. Everyone is not ready and no one thought that education system will be brought into a different direction.
Indeed, COVID-19 brought too much worries, fears and hesitations to everyone due to issues on health and safety. Due to scare brought by the serious threat of pandemic, parents had hesitations as to whether or not they will allow their children to go out in any way even in terms of education. Some parents have even thought of the ideas of skipping the school year for their children since their safety outside their home is not guaranteed. They also have fears that their children may get virus from school which may transmit to their siblings. More so the qualms have progressed and become the nightmare of every parent due to drastic increase of infected and casualties of the pandemic. The anxiety experienced by parents was used as basis by some sectors to call for academic freeze.
Although, the Department of Education knew that it will not be an easy road to deliver the best education in the country due to some loopholes and drawbacks these trying times have revealed in the system, still, the department firmly believes that it is not impossible to continue its mission for accessible learning experience to learners as long as there would be shared responsibilities for both internal and external stakeholders.
Relative to this was the statement made by the DepEd Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones who encouraged everyone to remain calm and composed amidst the pandemic since education will continue without compromising the safety of students, teachers, parents and other external stakeholders (DepEd Philippines, 2020).
Through series of consultations, studies and surveys, the Department of education had taken the risks of opening of classes following IATF guidelines to assure teachers’ and parents’ safety in the entire school year. The agency let the schools to discuss the learning modalities to their stakeholders since they are the ones who knew the best learning strategy for the students amidst pandemic.
Burol Elementary School as one of the educational institutions in Sta. Teresita District is committed to deliver the basic education to its stakeholders through the use of modular distance learning. In fact, this learning modality became the most popular option to parents due to its practicality and affordability for the learners.
Despite of the agreement on the use modular distance learning between parents and school, still there are some issues and complaints relevant to its administration. There are some parents who struggle in facilitating instruction in spite of the available weekly home learning plan (WHLP) and learning activity sheets (LAS). They also find it hard to adjust in the new roles of taking the position of being a teacher due to limited knowledge on the different subject areas/disciplines. The researcher as a school head also hears complaints on the bombarded activities presented in the modules which they believe almost impossible to realize due to their nature of work and workloads.
Indeed, teachers in Burol ES sees holes of uncertainties that need to be sealed in order to ensure that the ultimate purpose of accessible and positive learning experience for the students will not be defeated. They believe that the fight for quality education is still possible amidst pandemic if and only if shared accountability and responsibility for the chosen learning modality will be given high consideration.