"The pandemic has made things more problematic than in years past."
"The pandemic has made things more problematic than in years past."Those who have been questioning Secretary Leonor Briones’ ability and the Department of Education’s preparedness to start the school year as mandated by law in the midst of the pandemic, to the point of suggesting that she should just let this year slip by and simply promote all students to the next level, should now take pause. As in, take pause. Instead of hounding her and our educators in the 40,000 public schools nationwide no end with all kinds of micro problems, suggestions on how to make things better would make their whining more tolerable.
Last Monday, despite the health and related challenges, Secretary Briones and our education officials welcomed 24.7 million basic education students (22.5 public school enrollees and 2.1 million in private schools) to school year 2020-21. We are moving on, thanks but no thanks to all the naysayers whose tantrums and negativism in the face of any and all kinds of problems could not and should not stand in the way of preparing our younger generation for the challenges and opportunities this new century brings. Pandemic or no pandemic, we should not sacrifice their education at all no matter what the price.
Education is the key in ensuring that we will not have a “lost generation” of young people unprepared to find their place in the scheme of things, in a world which has become even more complex and complicated through the years. And made even more so with this invisible enemy which has locked the entire world in some kind of a time warp unable and still finding ways to start all over again.
As UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres noted “the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the largest disruption of education ever.” Indeed, the disruption has not spared any country of note as schools in 185 nations closed as of mid-August affecting more than one billion students. Of these, no less than 40 million children worldwide have missed out on their critical pre-education year while millions more are about to transition into the tertiary levels. The vast majority, on the other hand, are caught up in between basic and tertiary in education grades.
If we agree that, as Guterres said, “education is the key to personal development and the future of societies” and that it is the bedrock of informed, tolerant peoples and a primary driver of sustainable development,” it behooves us to ensure that no complications or disruptions stand in the way of achieving that goal.
Of course, the pandemic has made things more problematic than in years past. Having been used to face-to-face learning with all the advantages such a system provides, we now have to create and provide other means to impart lessons to our children. For one, we have to establish a new learning system and produce lesson plans —from modular (printed or offline); online learning; TV- or radio- based instruction. We also have to train our teachers in the use of these various learning systems, determine standards of passing (learning) and ensure that this stay-at-home learning method gets to impart the needed values and skills required. And since this is a stay-at-home effort, we have to engage parents and communities to join in making sure that the disruptions and complications associated with this new system are lessened to the barest minimum.
Speaking of families and parents, we also have to recognize that a vast majority of parents, even those sending their children to private schools, are facing income crunches. Joblessness stalks families and parents have a hard time coping with the daily struggles of keeping body and soul together to the point that some have opted to simply ask their children to skip this school year.
In any event, so far despite the jitters of opening under pandemic the measures put in place seem to have been adequate for a start. Secretary Briones said that modular distance learning has been the “preferred modality” among all the options in the basic education continuity plan. Of those enrolled, 9.4 million learners chose modular; 4.1 million chose blended; 3.6 million online; 1.3 million TV; 977,000 radio and 531,000 others including those who chose multiple systems.
But the burdens and the hurdles for a better and more equitable way of delivering learning services remain. Parents have to assume additional burdens quite apart from holding families and kitchens together. Learners with disabilities, those belonging to minorities and disadvantaged communities, displaced students as well as those in remote areas have to surmount a host of hurdles before they can be provided the most basic of services.
As one mother said in an interview “We have to work double time to keep ourselves afloat, we barely have anything for gadgets and supplies and no more time to check on the lessons which will surely be given to my kids.” By far, these mothers and the families they keep are considered the bulk, maybe close to 90 percent, of the total numbers in distress highlighting yet again the inequities in societies everywhere.
But no matter. We have to move on and struggle all we can to ensure that the younger generation imbibes the values and skills needed to make a nation we can all be proud of.