THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATION AND THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

By GAZETTE Z. QUILANG
Teacher 3, Palanan Elementary School
Division of City Schools
of Makati, City of Makati​

n January 2020, the world health organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of novel coronavirus infection or also known as COVID-19. It is considered a public health emergency worldwide concern that is why the term used is a pandemic. It is believed that the virus originated from Wuhan, a province in China. In the Philippines WHO has been working with the Department of Health (DOH) and other stakeholders and partners to increase the capability to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

​As part of the government’s response to the pandemic the Enhance Community Quarantine (ECQ) was implemented by the government especially in the National Capital Region (NCR) As a result of this season, the delivery of education in the country has greatly change. Since public and private schools were closed to protect the health of learners and evaluators, teaching had to prepare remotely with the use of modules and digital platforms.

​The opening of classes for school year 2020-2021 was moved to October 5, 2020 as approved by President Rodrigo RoaDuterte, The school opening with not necessarily mean traditional face-to-face in the classroom. The learning delivery modality that the school can adopt may be one or a combination of the following depending on the COVID-19 restrictions and particular context of the learners in the school of locality.

​As stipulated in Department Education Order Memorandum No. 018 s. 2020 dated July 2020, the are provided with the following choices of learning delivery modalities: Distance Learning – refers to a learning modality where learning takes place between the learners and teachers who are geographically remote from each other during instruction, Modular Distance Learning- involves individualized instruction that allows learners to use the self-learning modules (SLMS) in print  and other learning resources like Learner’s Materials, textbooks, activity sheets, study guide and other study materials in a computer, tablet, personal computer or smart phone, Compact disc (CD), digital video disc (DVD), universal serial bus storage (USB) and computer based applications can all be used to deliver e-learning. In the absence of electronic gadget, the modular distance learning is the only option. Teachers will prepare the modules and deliver it personally at the learners’ residence. Whereas possible the teacher will do home visits to learners needing or assistance. Any member of the family or other stakeholders in the community needs to serve as para-teachers.

​The teachers and learners must observe necessary health protocols to avoid being infected with COVID-19 virus, we hope and pray that this pandemic shall be over the soonest the possible so that we can go back to our normal setup of teaching-learning process.

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