THE DEPARTMENT of Education (DepEd) paraded its unpreparedness during a recent Senate hearing on the preparation updates for the agency’s learning continuity plan (LCP).
Less than 60 days before the formal opening of classes, DepEd embarrassingly came empty-handed when senators asked about the infrastructures it has put up as the country nears the Aug. 24 class opening. Despite getting the Inter-Agency Task Force’s go signal for the LCP as early as May 11, DepEd still has very little to show for its prized alternative modalities. Where are the laptops, gadgets for learners and education workers? Where are the print or digital modules for the revised K to 12 curriculum? What’s the development on the much-bragged about TV/radio educational programs? Also important but which DepEd has not instituted — health and safety measures in schools.
How will learning continue amid the pandemic without these?
When confronted by senators, DepEd officials claimed they needed a law to allocate funds for all these. But didn’t Usec. Alain Pascua announced on May 21 that the agency was already set to buy 36,676 laptops, televisions, lapel microphones, and speakers this year, and will acquire 54,350 laptops, 2,350 televisions, and 167,500 tablets that were bought in 2019?
DepEd data suggest that within the year, 475,650 tablets and 634,877 computers will be available to millions of learners while they claimed they had more than enough laptops — 190,574 to be exact — to distribute to public school teachers who did not have access to any according to their survey.
Are Deped’s contradicting statements an attempt to backtrack on earlier commitments to learners and teachers? These being raised now makes it appear as an alibi, especially considering that they claimed to be closely coordinating with the President, whose emergency powers gave him the authority to reallocate billions of funds as part of the country’s COVID-19 response.
The Senate hearing appeared to have exposed Deped’s lack of foresight. The Philippine education system is obviously not designed for distance learning and therefore cannot be overhauled overnight. Yet DepEd continues to waste time not doing sufficient measures to enable the shift to remote delivery of education. At the agency’s pace in tending to the requisites of LCP, quality and access are sure to suffer.
DepEd should review the objectives of education and find a way to make it serve the needs of a country drowning in health and socioeconomic crisis brought about by COVID-19. We don’t need any more weight as we all grapple with surviving our current predicament. What we need is an education program grounded on the needs and capacities of the people. Now more than ever, we need education to serve its purpose and help us triumph against the many challenges we face as a nation.
