Some students, teachers struggle to meet requirements under distance learning

MB – Published January 29, 2021, 1:15 PM

Four months into the new school year, *Allen (not his real name) is barely attending his online classes anymore.

A Grade 8 student in a public school in Cavite, Allen failed to submit the requirements in the first quarter. During the Christmas vacation, he was “too busy” to tend to the requirements needed in school. When classes resumed early this month, he felt that he could no longer catch up and barely showed up in his scheduled online classes.

Allen said that his parents are too busy to monitor him. “Alam nila, nag-attend ako pero di ko masabi na hindi na kasi natatakot din ako mapagalitan (They thought I was still attending classes but I could not say that because I know they will get mad at me),” he added.

An only child, Allen’s parents decided to enroll him this school year despite the pandemic. To ensure his safety and convenience, he was enrolled under online distance learning. His parents even got him a new phone and additional gadgets such as ring lights and headphones to help him focus on his lessons. Both parents are working and barely have time to assist him in doing school-related work, much more in monitoring his online activities.

Allen’s teacher, *Myla (not her real name) has been reaching out to his parents but to no avail. “Meron kaming group chat, nagbibigay kami ng updates doon pero di din lahat ng parents sumasagot (We have a group chat where we give updates but not all parents are responsive),” she added.

Aside from Allen, teacher Myla said that there are other students who failed to submit their requirements for the first grading period. “Challenging talaga kasi halos wala kaming ma-compute for them, may basis din kasi yung grades like yung activity sheets, attendance, class participation at iba pa so pag in-complete, wala talagang grades na maibibigay (It’s very challenging because we do not have anything to compute. There are bases for grades like activity sheets, attendance, class participate so if these are not complete, we can’t give them grades),” she added.

In a recently-released nationwide study by the Movement for Safe, Equitable, Quality, and Relevant Education (SEQuRe Educ Movement), it showed that 54 percent of teacher respondents attest to “dwindling class participation” while 70 percent also think that the “target competencies are not being developed” under the distance learning program implemented by the Department of Education (DepEd).

On Oct. 5, DepEd formally opened the school year 2020-2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 25 million students enrolled in the basic education sector both in public and private schools.

Distance learning approach is being implemented to ensure the safety of students and teachers. Multiple learning deliveries are currently being used including printed/offline modular, online learning, TV and radio-based instruction and “blended” learning.

Recognizing the challenges, the DepEd said that it is continuously “implementing academic ease measures to help families, learners, and teachers who are still adjusting to the distance learning set-up.”

DepEd said public schools are also “practicing leniency in the completion and submission of activities” by students and they have also expanded their mental health and socio-emotional well-being support programs.

SOURCE: https://mb.com.ph/2021/01/29/some-students-teachers-struggle-to-meet-requirements-under-distance-learning/?fbclid=IwAR02iTzlK_ScG3ShtPahIq3WC8q-rNibhixi58FPirxoUbNLSGobT_NZ-30