Back To School 2021-2022

August 15
Normally, the school year in the Philippines starts in June. But the pandemic has disrupted almost everything that was considered normal.

For the second year, we will not be meeting our students face-to-face.

Hello again, readers. I am Teacher John and I am going to share with you my experience and point of view on how the education system in the Philippines is coping up amid the pandemic.

But first a little information about the "teacher" side of me. I don't think I have shared my life as a teacher before... Well, to be precise, I only teach part-time. Teaching is not my profession. But sharing my knowledge is something I love to do. Plus, it's my way of giving back to my alma-matter for grade school.

I teach part-time for the senior high in a private school. This is already my fourth year of teaching.

First Community Quarantine

It was March 15 of 2020, when our Governor declared the first community quarantine for our province. It was declared right after the President declared the community quarantine for Metro Manila.

It was the finals week for our school. The school administrators had to make drastic decisions and changes for the final exams.

First Year of Pandemic School Year.

Before the pandemic, the school year in the Philippines starts in June. But, with the dangers brought by the coronavirus, face-to-face classes were not allowed.

Should education be set aside for a year? The government decided no.

But the method of delivering the lessons has changed. The learners must study at home.

Online and Modular Learning

The options are online learning or modular learning through printed modules.

Unfortunately, the Internet Services in the country are very unstable and expensive. Plus there are some far-flung areas where there are no cellular services at all. Some don't even have electricity.

The government had to make use of other media such as television and radio to deliver the lessons.

My Experience

In our school, which is a private school, we make use of a third-party platform where the students can access all the modules and other learning materials, such as presentations, videos, assessments, and quizzes. They also have the option to get a printed copy of the learning modules and the other materials ( except for the quizzes) save in their flash drives.
Then we meet the students via Google Meet once a week for each subject.

Preparing The Modules and learning materials.
Unlike in public schools, we have to prepare the learning modules ourselves. The first quarter was the most difficult. We only had a few weeks to prepare the modules for several subjects. And we also have to create the presentations and videos.

Online Classes
Unfortunately, not all students can attend online.

Some of those who can, don't have a camera or microphone so they can hardly participate in the discussions. Some would prefer to turn off their cameras. So there's no way to tell if the learners are still in front of their computers or back on their bed.

Although I have at least one student who didn't have a camera and mic but always participate by typing his answers on the chatbox.

I had one student who joined the online class while in their car. She wasn't driving of course.

Back To School 2021-2022

Now it's the second school year under the threat of the pandemic.

For the second year, the school campus will be empty. The halls bereft of kids loitering.

For another year, there will be no kids running around the campus. You will not hear kids giggling and screaming. It's going to be another quiet year.

How will the learners cope up with another year of home-schooling?

On the Bright Side

For the teachers, we no longer have to worry so much about developing the learning modules. We will use the same modules used last year. We may need to improve them though.

We can now focus more on developing the presentations and delivery of the lessons during the online sessions.

I hope things will go back to normal soon.

Thanks for reading.

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