OPINION

BY KIANA MAE A. MORGIA

COVID-19 isn’t the only thing capable of causing an ECG machine to let out successive beeps. The Philippines’ beloved educational system has stepped up to match pace with the battle fought by healthcare professionals and other front liners in the field—on the other side of the war turning the coronavirus pandemic into an educational crisis.

When the reigns to adapt flexible online learning were given to schools and universities all around the country despite the healthcare and financial issues taking place, education-related incidents quickly followed. On June 16, a grade nine student in Albay allegedly took his own life due to the financial burden imposed by online learning according to a testimony by his mother recorded by the Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK). Earlier than that, a criminology student from Capiz died in an accident allegedly searching for a signal to submit a report on May 16. Just recently, on November 21, a grade seven student in Quezon was found dead without clothing and with stab wounds. She was searching for a mobile phone signal to talk to her teacher about a module.

Although the Department of Education (DepEd) Education Secretary Leonor Briones recognized the challenge of ensuring mental health for both teachers and students, cases of suicide continue to take place despite the DepEd strengthening its psychosocial support program. Furthermore, while modules were originally designed to cater to individuals who have little to no access to the internet, a mobile data signal proves itself to be necessary to make learning even more efficient.

The Philippines' educational system plunders itself into a quagmire of its own making. Unyielding the clamor of students asking for an academic freeze led to this succession of events being put into place. The turtle-paced internet connection in the country is not the only factor to blame for the backfiring system of flexible online learning. A multitude of factors proves to contribute to the declining educational quality the Filipinos receive.

Despite priding itself to be training 21st centuryready and globally competitive individuals, students and teachers alike still lack the digital literacy needed to quickly cope with online learning. Although teachers may have gotten a certain amount of training and students are expected to adapt because of their ‘techy’ minds, the sudden switch to digital forces each individual to a plethora of information and communication technology (ICT) skills to learn. While the basic student may know how to perform certain ICT tasks such as the creation of word documents, the problem takes place on the comprehension of the information provided digitally and even through the different module alternatives.

Each individual carries a certain learning style that allows one to efficiently understand lectures. With the distance learning presented, students are forced to adopt a reading/writing, visual or auditory learning style that caters only to an exclusive set of learners. Instead of learning effectively, students are coerced to develop a new learning style on their own or submit modules and other works for the sake of getting through the school year instead of accomplishing the purpose of school—education.

In December 2019, Malacañang itself declared that the “poor reading comprehension of Filipino students is a reality.” This was done after the release of the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) Report which stated that Philippine high school students got lower scores in reading comprehension, mathematics, and science than most of those surveyed from other nations. With this knowledge, DepEd continues to release modules dependent on a learner’s reading comprehension. To add to this, some modules handed to students for independent learning contain errors that can hinder learning.

Alongside these, the Philippines suffers from power outages which pose a problem on the TV and radio program learning that DepEd offers and an even bigger problem for universities and state colleges dependent on the online set-up. For synchronous sessions, students in universities need updated gadgets or at least ones with the latest applications installed. While this may be easy for some, students in marginalized areas face a struggle in both connectivity and gadgets. Some students such as Franz Berdida need to hike a small mountain in the middle of a pandemic to send a class requirement to their professor. The challenge presents itself not only to students but to teachers as well. To make sure their students are well-informed, some teachers encounter difficulties in having to contact students as well. Although the problem may not present itself to each student and teacher, the fact that these are experienced by a single student increases the holes in the fearless declaration of “no learner left behind” by DepEd.

Signing up in the online and distance learning setup also indicates being ready to submit oneself to insurmountable workload alongside health and financial issues. With the amount of time allotted to a subject online being the same as the amount of time given in face-to-face lectures, students are forced to balance between tasks at home and in school. In a platform where the results of quizzes and activities are delayed, students also find themselves submitting an average of three requirements weekly for the sake of simply passing. Education then works alongside the problems that a student faces in their own household. It functions under the assumption that once a student is at home, they can and will allow all of their time for their lessons. Because of this, students face mental health problems in dealing with the academic workload thus the increasing suicide cases due to pressure brought by managing all these.

The amount of time spent dedicated to schooling does not guarantee effective learning. The 2018 PISA survey served as enough proof for that by showing that the country received measly scores of 353 in mathematics, 357 in science, and 340 in reading—all below the average. These results are all backed by years of development in teaching strategies in the faceto-face setup. How can we expect a better or at least a decent performance when we're faced with greater technical hindrances due to the sudden change in the learning mode backed by little experience?

Those at the helm of our country’s educational system need to remove their earplugs and listen to the deafening beeps caused by the cries of suffering students. Taking a step back is not always a bad thing. The Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission of Higher Education (CHEd) must come to actualize the impact brought by their demands of outputs from students. Re-strategizing and re-mapping the current system to better suit the conditions of the country alongside the demands of the students should be the top priority. There’s no point in continuing the system when it becomes ineffective and anti-poor.

Until then, the number of continuous beeps caused by the incompetent educational system will increase.

BY ROLLY M. SONGCAYAUON

Bachelor of Science in whatever course major in online classes. Indeed, the pandemic has brought us to the new normal mode of education— utilizing the internet and technology for academic purposes and just like that, the first semester of the school year has come to an end. Who would have thought the home isolation would last for 8 months? Thanks to the ‘recent’ realization of our president regarding the importance of free testing for COVID-19 detection, DOH now braces for free COVID-19 tests. Well, that wasn’t a very ‘prompt’ recognition after all. Now that we have to confront the consequences of the administration’s negligence in the face of online education and its associated struggles, you might as well ask yourself, “What have you learned so far?”

Learning in the middle of a pandemic is definitely a challenging task. Poor internet connectivity always plays a huge barrier to the success of online classes, the mental condition always affects the performance of the students, and the level of understanding the students possess always impedes the progress he or she can give in matters of online requirements, and yet here we are now—starting the second semester of the school year. Of all the many lists of obstructions to online learning, the upsurge of students’ mental health issues has become one of the dilemmas most schools and universities are experiencing the most. With the recent news last September 2020, three students commited suicide and these cases have all been allegedly linked to pressures brought upon by online classes. As these incidents were reported, many of the netizens questioned the educational system and cried out for justice and called for utmost considerations of educators in this online learning system. On the defense of the Department of Education, “Suicide is a sensitive and complex issue. We would like to appeal to everyone to stop directly connecting such to modules or distance learning.” This kind of predicament, even if it’s proven to be misguided or factual information, is telling us the irony of the situation many students fittingly experience. Isn’t it ironic that many of us disdain online classes because of the aforementioned reasons yet most of us are still continuing to study in this mode of education? It absolutely is! It’s completely paradoxical that we enrolled for the second semester knowing that we cannot really comprehend the piles of PDFs and PPTs. It’s clearly unacceptable to insist on learning and passing multiple requirements given by teachers from various subjects in due time recognizing that we also have other chores and responsibilities at home to accomplish. And it’s certainly an incorrect system to give an examination to students with only having minutes to comply perceiving that the internet connection among students is weak. Isn’t online education putting so much pressure on students to learn?

Students have a lot to say about pressure. One is pressure for compliance. “We need to graduate” and “we don’t want to be left behind” are the bleak reasons why many choose to continue studying amidst the difficulty, hence, dispelling the goal of ‘studying to learn’. On the other end, teachers have also encountered much hurdles as students do. The transition to virtual learning left teachers no choice but to build a new and improved model of teaching where its effectivity is analogous to that of faceto-face classes. Even with several seminars and conferences, in reality, some teachers have trouble in adjusting the teaching style and design because of deficient resources and limited access to the internet thus, resulting in inadequate opportunities to learn for both parties.

But the significant question here is, why risk learning when you are pressured? Aren’t we all pressured? On regular face-to-face classes, we can also feel the tension whenever the teacher is lecturing in front of us or when the professor calls us for recitation—either way, it gives us an anxious reaction. But what makes this pressure different and unique in approach? Values. It’s a pressure that creates values and develops character. This kind of isolation pushes us to work and to study well on our own—to embody self-discipline in our studies; committing oneself to learn and comprehend more; and realizing one’s liability in terms of time management. Since the start of the pandemic, we have been surrounded mostly with negativities; from the issues of our own government and our educational system down to the problems within our respective families—all of these battling with our minds and physical health. But as we advance in time, we need to grasp the brighter side of this online setup. We need to understand that more than the knowledge and skills that are shared to us by our professors whether online learning or the regular face-to-face classes, there is also ‘character’ which determines what you can be in the future.

Studying is preparing students not only for their designated fields but it is also a stage of learning where students cultivate values that produce knowledge. The degree we yearn for is achievable without a doubt. The impediment in the way of making virtual classrooms and learning successful is dependent on both parties—the teachers and students, the ability of the students to engage in classes, and the teachers’ method to sustain motivation. Henry Motte-Munoz, the CEO and Founder of Edukasyon.ph, advises, “the closer you mimic the digital consumption of students the more you will engage them. Short content, games, and lots of visuals tend to do better. Going to the level of what students consume outside of school, will be more appealing to them.” Undeniably, this learning setup has been tough on both sides and definite revisions and redesigning of the teaching structure should be developed to be able to generate quality education.

The new normal mode of learning has brought us changes, shifting from the more familiar medium to an unaccustomed zone of online learning. Eight months of isolation could also mean excelling in new subjects and rediscovering one’s skills that were never unraveled. Separation could also mean growth and independence, and above all, online learning could also mean character development and progression—all these depending on how we view certain things. The first semester was definitely a tedious battle but we made it through! People would say we are major in online classes but perhaps we are now at least specializing in selfdiscipline, persistence, and growth.