ILOILO City – Public school classes from kindergarten to senior high school resume today but there will be no traditional face-to-face learning in schools. Learning will take place mainly in homes due to the coronavirus disease pandemic.
In Western Visayas, 1,910,611 learners have enrolled for school year 2020-20201 and chose either self-learning modules or online classes as modes of learning offered by the Department of Education (DepEd).
Traditional face-to-face learning – where the students and the teacher are both physically present in the classroom, and there are opportunities for active engagement, immediate feedback, and socio-emotional development of learners – will only resume when the pandemic is over.
There are 4,572 public schools in the region – 3,402 elementary, 677 junior high and 493 senior high. Meanwhile, there are 1,496 private schools – 974 elementary, 322 junior high and 200 senior high.
Soon, according to Regional Director Gemma Ledesma, DepEd will also be releasing new guidelines on the grading system under this “very extraordinary situation.”
“Our aim is to really make our students learn, not fail them. We will make sure there is learning,” she stressed.
Parents will be informed of the new grading system.
“We in DepEd will exert all effort to make this work,” said Ledesma who oversees 20 Schools Division Offices in six provinces and 16 cities.
Modular learning is individualized instruction that allows learners to use self-learning modules in print or digital format/electronic copy, whichever is applicable in the context of the learner, and other learning resources like textbooks, activity sheets, study guides and other study materials.
The teacher takes the responsibility of monitoring the learners’ progress. The learners may ask assistance from the teacher via e-mail, telephone, text message/instant messaging, etc.
Where possible, the teacher shall do home visits to learners needing remediation or assistance.
Ledesma said any member of the family or other stakeholders in the community may serve as para-teachers.
“Our first teachers are our parents. But if there are subjects that parents cannot teach, we will try to look around basi may mga magulang sila, cousin nga lapit man lang or neighbors or titas or titos who can help,” said Ledesma.
DepEd is also studying the possibility of hiring “learner’s support aides” although this has budgetary implications, said Ledesma.
More than half of the total enrollees in Western Visayas have opted for modular type of learning this school year, according to Leo Dedoroy, DepEd-6 division chief of Planning and Research.
Citing the Learners Information Survey Form, Dedoroy said 1,075,391 learners or 64 percent of those enrolled in public schools and 45,287 or 29.85 percent of learners from private schools have chosen modules as their preferred mode of learning.
“Only a small percentage of learners have opted for online classes. They are those who have available gadgets and internet connection,” said Ledesma.
In online distance learning, the teacher acts as facilitator, engaging learners’ active participation through the use of various technologies accessed through the internet while they are geographically remote from each other during instruction.
The internet is used to facilitate learner-teacher and peer-to-peer communication.
Online learning allows live synchronous instruction. It requires participants to have good and stable internet connection. It is more interactive. The responses are real-time.
The learners may download materials from the internet, complete and submit assignments online, attend webinars and virtual classes./PN
