S.Y. 2KNEW - 2KNORMAL
A public school teacher reflects with honesty and hope on the conditions of a “pandemic education” in the Philippines - in all of its complicated third world glory.
By Ryan Leyco Faura (Antipolo, Rizal)
September 3, 2021
It might as well be a comic prediction but Betty Cooper, the arch-rival of Veronica Lodge in the Archie cinematic universe, once told her mother, Molly, in ‘High School 2021 AD’ that her class is about to begin as she faces her desktop monitor, a clear indication of an online distance learning in 2021 Anno Domini. An all-too familiar signage is taped to the door: video monitor must remain uncovered at all times. Meanwhile, her father muses that students today are so lucky because they are able to go to school in their own home, not to worry about carrying books and the changing weather. Prophesied? Coincidence?
I call it as it is, coincidental or not, but that right there, on my Instagram feed, is what pandemic education is all about. Students not physically going to school because their homes are the closest alternative. Students face the screens of their choice as they attempt learning in a way that has never been attempted before. I am not sure about being lucky though, as what Betty's father mentioned in the prophetic comic strip, because admittedly students and teachers bear the brunt of the circumstance.
But the Philippines is no America. A video monitor or a webcam should remain covered save only for the few minutes that teachers will ask the students to open it for a while for a photo op, or a proof that yes, the learners are on the other side, about to embark on a learning so different from what they are accustomed to getting. As a teacher in the public school, asking my students to camera off is to help them save the necessary data needed to finish the 2-hour class I have for them. I am not sure how many bytes are utilized for the whole duration of the class but I know for a fact that life is hard and education to some is not a priority.
When the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic, I worry about my students and their learning this year. I reflected on the idea of how it is possible to continue education when the priority is health and safety above all. Will learning ever stop? Will there be dramatic shifts regarding the learning delivery? These are questions that popped in my mind, and for a time being I fumbled for answers.
I was as confused as everyone else.
It did not help when some colleges and universities around the world postponed the academic year so as to help in flattening the curve. At one point, I believe that we could have opted the same because how do we even let education continue when the most pressing issue is survival.
But isn’t it the death of mankind if education is suppressed? Suppression is maybe inappropriate a word when we refer to a contagion that has left the world in a limbo but the point is, there are things that we can do without leading the future movers and shakers in harm's way.
A friend who works in DepEd Central Office got me thinking an important realization: if we will withhold the current school year, what will the students do to pass the time? Twitter was in shambles trying to suggest extra-curricular activities only to get stung by harsher reality bites: not everyone has the means and resources to sustain specialized trainings. In fact, most of my students have to work for terribly long hours trying desperately to balance earning and learning. It is no coincidence that adding a discreet ‘L’ to earning makes the idea acceptable. But this delicate balancing act is not without the gravity of falling as most of these students have been failing their subjects due to noncompliance. We even have a specific term for it: SARF or Students At Risk of Failing as if assigning them labels wrangles them out from the trend. And teachers, as paragons of virtue and fairness and second chances, have to go the extra mile, literally and figuratively, to coax these students back to their Google Classrooms.
And how can we be sure that this pandemic will end after a year? According to a veritable Twitter handle, @HerdImmunityPH, with the current rate of fully vaxxed individuals which constitutes 13.15% ( 1st dose) and 11.05% ( 2nd dose), the estimated herd immunity date is March 2022. If this rate keeps its momentum, it is not a far-cry to hope that the school year 2022-2023 is when we have a shot at normalcy.
It is later supported by the DepEd Secretary that come hell or high water, education in the Philippines must continue.
Which also leads me to this quote: An idle brain is a devil’s workshop.
So the question whether there should be a continuity or not is now out of the equation provided that the strictest protocol shall be implemented. The IATF made sure that there will be no face to face interaction so schools up to this day have been sad reflections of emptied halls and vacant rooms.
Necessity is the mother of invention as DepEd proposed different learning modalities that will cater to this need and urgency. Terms such as blended learning and online distance learning resurfaced. Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet become portals of not only virtual meetings but also virtual learnings. A new but fully realized learning plan called IDEA Exemplar was also introduced in Region IV-A Calabarzon. Other regions designed and created versions of their own gauging the uncertainties and reducing them to mere blips.
“But isn’t it the death of mankind if education is suppressed?”
DepEd Antipolo, where I am currently teaching, masterminded LM2LKITS and LAS as extensions of activities and instructions. City and provincial governments which have bigger coffers distributed tablets and other electronic devices to close the gaps of the technological deficiency and the frontliners such as teachers and principals attended webinars after webinars to be equipped with the most appropriate skill sets needed to facilitate learning. Recently, a 1gb-a-day dispensing sim from Smart Communications with the hopes to defray the cost of Internet bills has been allocated as this is another pressing matter for teachers in the public school. For all the bad rap that the department has been enduring, it is trying its best to live up to its ideals. The department did not leave us to our own devices.
In my handled classes, we utilized a blended learning modality which in a nutshell is combining face-to-face - if and only if the IATF approves - with any or a mix of online distance learning, modular distance learning, and TV/Radio-based instruction. According to teacherph.com, this will enable the school to limit face-to-face learning, ensure social distancing and decrease the volume of people outside the home at any given time.
My responses to the questions about its efficacy are on both sides of the spectrum. I did not support it fully then for reasons that might involve social class standing and economy. I still stand by these reasons after months of teaching but now with fresher perspectives. Online modality, which is a facet of blended learning modality, is very ideal even in a post-pandemic set up if only everybody could afford it. If before, submissions can be tough and nail-biting but now using Google Classroom's very efficient submission facility, it can be a breeze and that’s a welcome relief. Using Google Meet for the discussion is interactive as it is personalized. It’s as if the teacher prepares the materials exclusively for each student alone because the slide decks are alive, larger-than-life and somewhat within reach. I can also experiment with my presentation including the images, videos, soundbites that I intend to use for a particular lesson.
In my last class observation, out of my willingness to be cut above the rest, I used my own website as a backdrop of my discussion. Each facet of my lesson as blog posts, each portion can be scrolled down and up by the learner themselves while I blubbered instructions. It was fun and exhausting and never to be repeated again. I can think out-of-the-box contents, from a Taylor Swift anthem to blackout poetry to ‘90s coming-of-age movies for references, with which I can dispense my creativity so that my students could feel that they are not being deprived of quality learning. The vision and mission has always been the same, made all the more passionate by the zeitgeist of its time.
Looking back to October of last year when DepEd defied odds by continuing education, the battlecry has not been lost in the cacophony of naysayers. It grew strong instead, steadily and steadfastly, as it moved to the rhythm of its beating heart. A new school year begins in a few weeks as millions of Filipino learners once again attempt to close the gaps, this time wiser bringing with them the lessons of yesterdays, with the hopes that one day a pandemic this debilitating will just be a page of history.
