A SURVEY of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) assessing the first half of school year 2020–2021 revealed persisting problems in access to distance learning modalities, lacking education materials, and poor state of school facilities unfit for the conduct of face-to-face classes.
The government should consider these results and augment the budget for education, such as the provision of supplemental funds and realignment of resources from non-essential items in the 2021 General Appropriations Act.
A staggering 95% of teachers from the National Capital Region (NCR) and 81% from other regions reported that their students continue to face problems with the cost of gadgets and internet connectivity. Of this, 48% and 53% respectively indicated that at least 30% of their students have difficulties financing the demands of distance learning.
Indeed, majority of students come from low-income households, or those most hit in the economic recession brought about by the pandemic. Some belong in homes that house two to three families, with only one or two gadgets shared by multiple learners. Many lost their source/s of income. The government is essentially forcing these families to choose between putting food on the table and ensuring their children’s education, as they reel from the various effects of a bungled pandemic handling.
Teacher-respondents also reported that their students are lagging behind in lessons. Some 95% of those from NCR and 86% from other regions admitted that portions of their classes lag behind, while 24% and 29% respectively said that 30% or more have difficulties keeping up. Meanwhile, teachers are also behind their lesson schedules as reported by 27% of respondents from NCR and 43% from other regions, with 22% and 34% respectively delayed by as much as one to two weeks.
These figures, however concerning, are sadly unsurprising, especially with the severely under-supported distance learning modalities and the overburdening of both teachers and learners. It is indicative of serious problems in DepEd’s education program, policies, and curriculum. It’s at best riddled with major lapses and at worst extremely unresponsive to the demands of providing accessible quality education amid multiple crises.
The most employed learning modality remains to be the printed modular learning, indicated by 50% of teacher-respondents from NCR and 87% from other regions. However, the available modules for the first and second grading were incomplete, according to 32% of NCR teachers and 23% of teachers from other regions.
Half-way into the school year and we’re still significantly short of the most basic requisite of distance learning — printed modules. Major factors to this are the delayed production of learning materials from the Central Office and the insufficient funds for module printing. This is a great disservice to millions of learners who are shortchanged in education, and to teachers as well who have been exhausting their means to fill in these shortages.
Teachers have had to make up for these by putting in extra hours to research and create their own materials and by procuring their own printers and bond papers either by shelling out money from their own shallow pockets or soliciting from their networks.
We have to address the needs of the printed modular modality. We have to enhance education delivery amid the pandemic.
