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Social media has recently been swamped by hashtags #AcademicFreezeNow and #NoOneLeftBehind.
The movement was to call out Department of Education (DepEd) and Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to postpone the current school calendar until there is a cure for COVID-19, a disease that globally mass murdered millions of people.
However, the two Education Departments were firm on their stand to not freeze academic learning despite the virus's looming threats on physical and mental health.
While one of the Education Departments declared victory on education over COVID-19, the unexamined situations of those who are put on the front line of the said battle in which DepEd has celebrated a premature victory over, have remained under seige and thus, have injuries far from recovery.
The following are the circumstances we are facing:
1. THOUSANDS OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ARE STRUGGLING.
In adopting the new normal in education, say they have resources that include access to Internet. But have we looked at the internet speed serviced by telco players in our country? Internet connection in the Philippines creeps, may it be prepaid or postpaid plan.
This is something that cannot be solved by troubleshooting alone. Many have to endure hours of slow internet before getting a task done. Even worse, teachers and students in remote communities have to climb a mountain or on the rooftop in order to participate in online learning.
Since we have shifted to a new platform, the quality of education could be measured on the quality of the speed of technological devices we have. On the other hand, in terms of distance education in tertiary level, Republic Act No. 10650 or the “Open Distance Learning Act” aims to expand access to distance educational services.
However, our education system lacks flexibility and a strongly erected structural plan when it comes to implementing such mode. At this time of crisis, its constituents are not given equal provision.
Photo by Farren Rose Abero
2. STUDENTS ARE NOT LEARNING BUT ONLY COMPLYING COURSE REQUIREMENTS.
How can you expect a good yield when it’s not planting season yet and you have farmed?
We are like cooking something and don’t care if we have seasoned the food with the right additives. As long as the food is cooked, taste would not matter. When we are forcibly made to breastfeed on self-learning, it’s not learning that we truly are milking.
To balance the scales, teachers are not at fault, for they too were pressured by the mandate of the higher government.
Amid health risks, they are required to fulfill their duties as frontliners of education by reporting to school on a daily basis. Teachers and students are not cyborgs and both deserve #AcademicResilience.
Photo by Bryan Fernandez II
3. EDUCATION FAVORS THE ‘PRIVILEGED’ AMID ITS INCLUSIVITY.
While it is very OK for those who have a wellspring and can study on the comforts of their homes without disruption, there are students who live in a home not conducive to learning and are always drained of resources.
How about those college students whose family income has been interrupted by the crisis and live in an abusive home? Is it fair to tell them to ‘unenroll’ because the problem itself does not stem from the education system?
Education is a portal toward the future. But there are gaps, like digital divide, that we still need to address in order to achieve a more livable country.
Should we keep the doors of learning open during a storm, everyone must be given assurance that they could shelter in.
Photo by Farren Rose Abero
4. EDUCATION HAS BECOME A RACE.
There are those who hold an individualistic approach and are not in favor of academic freeze, saying that education is not a race, that it is irrational to halt the continuity of education just because there are students who have unsteady resources.
Their mindset is that we should not hinder those who can afford education this year. Clear and convincing evidence, EDUCATION IS A RACE.
If it not, why are we so worried on the delay of classes? Does a year empty of proper education defeat the duty of the Education Departments?
Photo by Farren Rose Abero
5. MENTAL HEALTH AT STAKE.
Distance learning during a global health crisis is never a victory to celebrate. We should not set the millions of students ‘already enrolled’ as barometer for winning.
The impacts of the new mode of education will greatly compromise the emotional and psychological stability of students, another serious and health-damaging factor. In fact, news about students who committed suicide that was linked to distance learning, has been reported these past few days.
Teachers also could suffer stress and depression. If we look at the situation, the teacher-student ratio is 1:100, at the minimum.
Imagine their struggle making and grading modules in a short span of time. They are not Alexa from Amazon that can work nonstop and could be recharged once the battery drains.
Photo by Bryan Fernandez II
6. INSUFFICIENT MODULES.
On average, a student is loaded with nine subjects per semester. However, almost all of the students in my college who opted to self-learn through printed modules received copies of only half the subjects they have.
Since the university has ran out of funds, we were instructed to ask electronic copies from our respective professors for the subjects that were not being reproduced of hard copies. In fact, there were information circulating that the next distribution of modules will be done through sending them on google mail, which means we would be taking courses under asynchronous methodologies.
The pressing thing, most of the students do not have a laptop and it is a real struggle completing modular activities by the use of mobile phone. Fortunate are those who can answer these tasks on a bigger screen and have devices with large storage room for heavy documents. The Commission on Higher Education should look into this problem in order to address the burden of the new learning system.
These are only the common few of the nakbas we face. There are hardships we do not see and hear about. There are students who keep their storms to themselves. There are teachers who preserve their struggles behind the screen.
I did not write this article because I am too good at whining. I write these things because no one did. It is undebatable that education is essential to human progress.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”, as Nelson Mandela put it.
However, Mandela said this when there was pandemic at all. If there is one powerful thing that is changing the world right now, it’s not education but COVID-19.
Photo by Bryan G. Fernandez II
Words by Gamaliel Languido
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