As the Department of Education (DepEd) spearheaded the opening of classes for the school year 2020-2021, the Department have decided to provide a set of Self-Learning Modules (SLMs) for each region for contextualization, which shall be printed and prepared for distribution nationwide. Modules are delivered in printed format to educational institutions that are located in areas or communities without access to the internet or electricity. SLMs can also be accessed online or offline for households with gadgets and devices. Under the new dispensation, the Internet is the library of this new kind of learning. Contrary to what parents might have imagined that teachers are already off the hook once modalities are delivered, efforts of both parent and teacher is necessary.
All the questions of this new set-up revolve around: Internet connectivity, and the most essential learning competencies and materials that have to be adapted for use with a blended learning environment. While some schools quickly responded to the closures primarily the private ones, some schools on the other hand, dabbled and are struggling with dilemmas related with access and readiness. Parents are no exception in this pandemic as they are forced to become educators overnight and had to understand the modules or activities provided. Cut to the chase, not all parents were ready and steady for this new format making them overwhelmed from buying gadgets itself up to other resources needed, and what’s more burdening is that not all the head of a certain household knows how to read and write.
As stated by Jefferson Ilovino, a resident of Barangay Magacan, “as we try to help our children learn, we must learn how to empathize and recall what it was like when we were at that age. We need to remember how our parents and teachers taught us and, most important, how we started to learn independently. Only then can we figure out how learning, as well as teaching, works.” In the new normal, there should be a stronger partnership between home and school to facilitate better communication and teamwork among teachers, parents and school children. This idea can still be further linked to the local community, particularly the local government units that can help in enabling a responsive education continuity program to be explored.
The teachers on the other hand who are at the forefront of this battle, were carrying upon their shoulders a risky task to distribute learning resources for their students amidst the destructive invasion of an unseen enemy. Meanwhile, some believe that despite all the world health crisis, the COVID-19 disruption has brought awareness to new learning modalities to continue our educational system and in molding the nation. Others fear that the abrupt and rapid move to online learning with no training, insufficient bandwidth, and little preparation will cascade into multiple questions and dilemmas that is unconducive to sustained growth, others believe that a new hybrid model of education will emerge, with significant benefits and would see the benefits of asynchronous way since there’s a higher chance of working on your own pace at own comfort space.
Teachers in general of Nagrangtayan-Magacan Elementary School (NMES), with all hands-on deck took a moment to realistically acknowledge that our situation and these times of uncertainty is just a start to a much more challenging phase, and that they have neither certainty nor concrete answers but continue to strive rising to greater heights and emerge as strong professionals. Along with the task of Reshaping schooling perspectives and practices that should deliberate on the why, who, what and how of education. “We recognize that we cannot please everyone with all of our decisions, but rest assured that we continue to use our core values as our guiding principles for our decisions. We are familiarizing ourselves with the sources, approaches and methodology of the materials culled from the Internet as we inculcate a fair and education for all as per the DepEd’s goal. This is our accountability to each other and the communities we serve” -Elma D. Sacbibit, Principal of NMES.
In order to make it a possible pursuit, as for the case of improving how blended learning can be unpacked for our children, we have to in high volumes call on the support of the parents. Not just for the head of the household but a collaborative effort of every citizen in our society, to adapt the new normal in providing high quality education through video, audio and other modalities using a range of accessible tools.
The Faculty and Staff of NMES however, secured their roles to shatter walls or barriers that prevent students from accessing and enjoying high-quality education, with a promise to always uphold the right to high-quality education by providing multiple pathways to learning that can accommodate every student. Education is not the work of teachers alone. Collaboration and partnership play crucial roles in sustaining learning at this time of the pandemic. The school have no notions of raising a white flag, but rather the standard of providing the best. With the school in full attention with adapting the new normal, seeks to thrive continuous progress and that no amount of distance could ever hinder the drive to deliver the highest-quality of education.