Should the Children Be Deprived Of Their Chance To Learn?

November 12

When the pandemic started in 2020. The school opening for that year in the Philippines was postponed for at least two months for the safety of the kids. The summer break normally starts in April and the school resumes in June. But because of the lockdown, the schools were forced to close in the middle of March.

There were a lot of debates and discussions about whether the school should resume that year or not. Then the Department of Education (DepEd), with the approval of the President, decided that the school will resume under the new normal. The new normal or the new form of delivering the lessons is through modular learning or using printed modules or through the Internet or both.

Hello dear readers. It's already 10:51 in the evening here. I might not be able to finish this article tonight, but I just want to at least compose half of it. Anyway, I would like to thank @bbyblacksheep for inspiring me to write this article. Again, I could not come up with anything to write until I saw her question on my old post "Back to School 2021-2022"

Although I gave her an answer, I would like to share my thoughts further. But before that, a little disclaimer.

DISCLAIMER

I am not a child psychologist, and I am not even an expert in children's education. I just teach part-time for the Senior-High School, in a private school in our city. The content in this post is purely my opinion based on my understanding on the subject at hand. I may have taken some concepts though from the books and other related materials that I have read in the past.

When the DepEd decided to reopen the school despite the dangers of the pandemic, there were groups who opposed the decision, stating various reasons. Some are even considered malicious. But perhaps the most valid reason is the danger brought by the virus.

In this situation, DepEd decided to reopen the school with different methods of delivering the lessons.

1. Through modular learning. Using printed learning modules or packages, the learners will be given modules to read and answer. To help them learn, the Internet, TV, and radio will be used to deliver pre-recorded lessons.

2. Online Classes. Lessons are delivered using video conference apps like Google Meet, MS Teams, Zoom, or other available apps.

3. A combination of the two methods mentioned above.

Again, there were groups who opposed the ideas, sighting various reasons. However, given the unstable, unreliable, and expensive services offered by the two telecommunication giants, some reasons are valid. And if the learners would rely only on the printed modules, parents or guardians must have some basic knowledge of various subjects so they can assist their children.

Unfortunately, the majority of the parents belonging to the lower class of the society are less educated as well.

But should that be enough reasons to take out the children's chance to learn?

Here are my taught on this matter.

1. If the young learners stop schooling for a long period of time, they might totally lose interest in studying. It might be more difficult to convince them to go back to school.

2. A learning process must be continuous. If you stop learning a subject, you might forget some of what you have learned already, and you need to re-learn them.

3. Homeschooling is not a new concept. Some schools in other places are already offering them.

Problems and difficulties

I would not enumerate all the difficulties and problems encountered when this new norm of education was implemented. There are countless and some of them are even funny. But hey, Thomas Edison did not perfect the light bulb in one try. Here are some of the common problems encountered

• There were mistakes in the learning modules and other materials,

• The unstable Internet connection. Courtesy of the duopoly of the country's telecom giants.

• The learners have difficulties understanding the materials given,

• and there are a lot more.

My Observation

I teach part-time in a private school and my wife is a teacher in a public school, and we sent our child to where she teaches. So, I am familiar with what's happening in private schools and in public schools. Here's what I have observed.

Parents play a major role in education. But I think it should always have been even with the pandemic or not.

Diligent students will always find a way to learn. I have at least two students who always attend our online class even without a camera or a microphone. There was a time that one of them sent me a private message saying he will just record the class because he has to do some errands.

The "bulakbols" or those who are not too interested... they will all sorts of excuses not to learn. Even if you give them the best resources available, they will find a reason not to attend the classes. It doesn't matter if it's online or offline.

So let's go back to the question. Should the Children be Deprived of Their Chance to Learn?

There were some parents who refused to send their children to school because of the pandemic. That's their choice. But was it the "good" choice?

Stopping the whole education system for too long would deprive the students to choose. There are a considerable number of students who are really interested to learn no matter what. Besides, in this situation, they could learn some valuable lessons that they will never learn in a normal mode of schooling.

In Closing

It is a person's rights to learn. They should not be deprived of this basic rights.

Thanks For Reading

(Uploaded Nov 13 - 5:47 AM)

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