CORTES, Bohol, Aug. 10 (PIA) –- The school year 2020-2021 would be a make or break for the Department of Education (DepED) which has been forced by the current pandemic to improvise to stay true to its mission of universal education where no one is left behind.
This sums up the discussion of the hour-long Kapihan sa PIA in Bohol with DepED’s Assistant Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Casiana Caberte, who assured parents that during the Aug. 24 opening of the school year, there would be no students physically showing up for classes.
The best semblance of school opening in the midst of a health crisis would be children opening their pre-distributed weekly modules, where instead of the attentive teacher over their shoulders, it is the learning facilitator who could be a parent, an older sibling, or a neighbor volunteering to facilitate learning.
“There is no face to face classes yet,” said Caberte who came with DepED Information Officer Lope Hubac during the radio forum aired by DyTR AM and partly by Tagbilaran’s 92.7 Bee FM.
Earlier, Pres. Rodrigo Dutere announced to the whole nation his desire to keep the children off from schools until a vaccine against the coronavirus disease is ready.
The health department has been advising people to stay away from mass gatherings, as the virus which can be transmitted by droplets while talking, coughing or sneezing, has been known to be highly contagious and is fatal to people whose immunity have been compromised.
“When the August 24 opening of the school year happens, kids would not be allowed to go to classes, instead, they could adopt the school schedules but inside their homes, working on the modules and activity sheets which the DepEd and the teachers have strived to contextualize to be able to give the kids the most essential learning competencies (MELC) for the week,” Caberte explained.
Last summer, DepEd sent out the Learner Enrolment Survey Form that allowed the government to get a glimpse of the technical capability of the learners and their access to internet, television, gadgets including tablets, android phones, radio and other channels of information.
From the survey came the decision to devise a learning modality that would be adopted for areas which could cope with the technical requirements.
With no face-to-face classes allowed yet, DepED Bohol has opted to adopt the Distance Learning Modality and the Blended Learning Modality in areas where these are applicable.
By Distance Learning Modality, a lesson for the week can be delivered through the internet, and can be viewed by computers or tablets and mobile phones, or television or radio-based learning where students get modules in flash drives and view these on computers or listen through radios with USB ports, when these are available.
There is also a Printed Module-Based Distance Learning where teachers prepare modules ahead and these are distributed to students and the learners can take the classes anytime.
In some places, schools may adopt to a Blended Learning where lessons can be delivered on the internet, through radios and printed modules and there are times when kids are asked to come to class when face-to-face classes would already be allowed.
Lessons are changed every week according to the needed competencies which a student should get in a real physical school.
They have to pass their activity sheets through their parents who also claim the modules they would use by the following week.
Caberte said there is a DepED module that schools division supervisors have simplified and contextualized, and these become the backbone from which the teachers can use in their lessons for the learners.
She assured that the prepared modules have been approved and screened to assure proper learning.
Caberte admitted, however, that the new system has been a challenge, adding that DepED has not prepared for the printing of modules which is costly.
“DepED can only provide at least 25 percent of the needed materials, it is just that Bohol local government units have been great partners that some of them helped us finance the modules,” she shared.
Another challenge is how would a teacher manage and follow-up on a struggling student when these kids could be far from each other.
Caberte sought the support of parents, or the siblings or neighbors of learners whose parents are incapable of facilitating the learning.
“There are parents who may not have the time to sit down and guide the learners, or kids whose home companions are either too old or too young to assist them in the modules. These kids need learning facilitators, which volunteers can fill," she said. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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