THE recent results of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that 89 percent of families with enrolled children aged 5 to 20 years old saw blended learning as more difficult than the traditional face-to-face modality. But harder times could still be ahead, with the Department of Education (DepEd) planning to reduce the production of printed modules and increase the use online learning due to budget constraints kuno.
How many more surveys does the government need for it to listen to our education stakeholders and urgently address the worsening education crisis?
Instead of allocating additional budget to alleviate the suffering of learners, teachers and parents, the government’s thrust now is to further scrimp on education.
The Department of Education’s (DepEd) aide memoir dated March 10, 2021 issued by the office of Undersecretary Alain Pascua stated its strategy to increase the utilization of its online platform DepEd Commons “from the current 9.5 million to 15 million users to minimize the agency’s expenses for module printing.”
The move could be borne out of the sorely inadequate P15 billion government allocation for module printing this year while DepEd requested for P50 billion for the item.
But it is plainly heartless to force poor families to shift to online learning while the government has no allocation either for gadget and internet support. This would only make education less accessible to the poor and impose heavier financial burdens to families.
The SWS survey only proved how disastrous the implementation of the distance learning is, as it only aggravated instead of alleviate the hardships of the people reeling in health and economic crises.
To improve access to and quality of education amid the pandemic, the budget for this must even be increased, not slashed. The additional budget should cover the needed learning resources for both modular and online learning, preparation for the safe and limited reopening of schools in areas with zero COVID infection, and protection and benefits for education frontliners.
This disaster-in-the-making has to be remedied immediately. If the government truly cares for our learners and educators, they need to listen to their woes and implement a concrete and grounded plan to salvage the declining state of our education.
Without printed learning materials, no government-provided gadgets and internet allowance, and next to none internet signal in many areas in the country, how else can the poor children learn amid the pandemic?
