Education is among the worst affected sectors by the Covid-19 pandemic. Some schools especially private ones closed, teachers and other non-teaching staff were unemployed, and enrolment declined. Thus, to ensure continuous education during the pandemic, the government has implemented blended learning throughout the country. Face-to-face classes were not allowed to mitigate the spread of the Covid-19 virus among students, teachers and other school staff. President Duterte had declared that face-to-face classes would not be allowed until there are available vaccines against Covid-19. In line with this and to ensure continuing education, the Department of Education (DepEd) and stakeholders developed a Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP) for the past school year that started on October 5, 2020 and ended on July 10, 2021. The BE-LCP is a package of education interventions that will enable students to continue learning and teachers to deliver instruction amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
In Sagada, Mountain Province, modular learning was the most feasible learning delivery modality implemented in the majority of public schools, from primary level to senior high school. Under modular learning, students had to study and answer sets of modules at home, either with the supervision of their parents or guardians or with no supervision at all. After accomplishing the sets of modules given to them, their parents or guardians would submit the modules to the respective advisers of their children in the schools. This modality required parents or guardians to go to the school to get the modules or learning materials from the advisers of their children; when they were not available, the students could get the materials while strictly observing health protocols. Some of the school personnel had to report to school for the distribution, receiving, and preparation of learning materials and for dealing with other school concerns.
Several struggles and difficulties challenged the implementation of modular learning in Sagada, whether among students and their families or teachers and school institutions. Transition from traditional learning to blended learning was not easy, considering that the majority of students, teachers and the rest of the educational sector are used to traditional learning.
Modular Learning on the Ground
Emy, a grade-1 pupil
Most of us would agree that beginners are the most difficult ones to teach. It requires a lot of patience, time and effort to teach them, even with simple things. Emy was a grade-one pupil in the past school year and will be an incoming grade-two pupil in the next school year. It was indeed a challenge to teach her through modules the basic learning skills of reading, counting and writing. Before the school year started, her mother began teaching her how to read and write to prepare her in dealing with the modules and other learning materials to be given by the school. Her mother prepared some visual aids to make teaching simpler and easier.
However when the school year began, it was overwhelming for Emy and her grandmother who later become her teacher in the absence of her mother. Some of the modules were challenging to teach. “Adik ammo nan tapin di lessons sin modules ya adik ammo nu kasanok ay isuro. Nan tapin di lessons et adik metlang maawatan ya tumikaw. ( I do not know some of the lessons in the modules and I don’t know how to teach them. I don’t even understand some of the lessons and they’re confusing as well.),” her grandmother said.
For some activities that were discussed multiple times, Emy could do them by herself which her grandmother would check afterwards. As her grandmother explained, “Ay nu baw sin tapin di modules na ay aw awne en naisuro enggana maawatan na et kaya na ay ikkan. Ngem wada es nan ulay ta aw awne en insuro, adi na ladta maawatan. (For some modules that were being discussed over and over again, she could do it by herself. But still, she could not understand everything even if we taught it several times.)” If ever there was time, Emy was asked to give a recap or do some exercises from the previous lessons to assess if she had learned something.
During the early months of modular learning, Emy spent more time in doing the modules. But she was still given time to play. She had the motivation to learn, though it was really hard for her to absorb what was being taught to her. A single module would consume a lot of time to finish. From the middle to the end of the school year, it became even more challenging to teach her. Her grandmother was busy with her work but still allotted some time to teach Emy. Even if she was exhausted from work, she had to supervise her granddaughter in doing her modules to be to meet the deadline for submission.
“Nu mamingsan ta panagpapasa et c module ya ugay na paylang nalpas, isurat ko et sin papel nan answer sana pay kopyaen sin answer sheet na. Ta uray nu ibagak nan isulat na, mabayagan es ay manglepas amed nu maikamakam di module. Nu mamingsan et adu unay nan module da ay ma-answer an sunga kulang nan oras ay mangikan. Ya nu sak-en nu adik metlang maawatan di module, ay menpugto et si answer. (Sometimes when the module had to be submitted and Emy was not still able to accomplish it, I would write down the answer in a separate piece of paper then she would copy it on her answer sheet. Even if I dictated the answer aloud, it would take time for her to write it down, especially when we rushed to finish it. Sometimes, there were several modules to accomplish and the time was not enough to do them. Sometimes I did not even know the answers, so we just guessed.),” said Emy’s grandmother.
Doing and accomplishing modules became part of the routine of Emy and her grandmother. But this affected the learning motivation of Emy. “Nu mamingsan ay nu kanan tako en men module sya et wada et di rasun na tapno adi men module. Tay nu ud mamingsan mailiget wenno masaplit kayman nu adi mendenge kaskada adi maki-cooperate. (Sometimes, if we tell her to go over her module, she would make excuses so that she would not do it. Because sometimes we would get mad at her or whip her if she does not listen or cooperate.) So to avoid creating too much pressure on the child, her grandmother would have to encourage and teach her patiently.
The modular learning has been stressful to both of them, but efforts should be made so that the child would not be left behind. As to the grades of Emy, she attained passing remarks at the end of the school year. Her grandmother believes that Emy has at least learned something from the entire school year of modular learning, but this does not really guarantee the effectiveness of modular learning.
Andrea, a grade-1 pupil
Even before the school year started, Andrea had been learning to read and write in preparation for grade one. Her mother said this would be a great help because her daughter is a beginner. At the start of the school year, Andrea gave more time and interest in doing her modules than playing. But as time went by, she started to lose interest in doing her modules. Her mother, a housewife, would always help her in doing them and always ensured Andrea’s cooperation and participation. Later on, she noticed that her daughter would make excuses to avoid working on the modules. She understood that her daughter was under pressure but she still had to convince her to do them. “Ayaken ladta nan unga tapno ikkan na di module na. Kanayon ko ay ibaga ken sya ay men module tapno makapasa as pang grade two sin sumaruno ay panag-uskila.” (You have to convince the child to do her module. I always tell her to do her module so that she will be a grade two pupil in the next school year.) If Andrea refused to do her module, her mother would not allow her to play or watch television, or whip her.
It was also a challenge for Andrea’s mother to teach. While she is a high school graduate, she says she cannot assist her daughter in all her lessons. The modules were also confusing and sometimes she did not know how to explain the lessons to her daughter in a simpler way. “Ipakat ko ladta di kabaelak ay mangisuro, Wada man siguro di masuro na sin ikkak ay men-isuro ngem mas makasuro ladta sya sin teacher.” (I have to try my best to teach. She may learn something from the way I teach but she learns far way better from her teacher.) Sometimes, Andrea’s mother would be the one to come up with the answers and just let her daughter copy them on her answer sheets. This was because her daughter appeared absent-minded and could not focus on the modules.
Two Sisters (grade 3 and grade 6 pupils)
Modular learning was not that difficult for two sisters, one in grade 3 and the other in grade six. They did not require much supervision or help from others. Thus for some of their lessons, they would seek help from their mother or anybody who could assist them. As they have been in school for several years, the transition from traditional o face-to-face classes to modular learning has not been hard. But the two sisters say they learn more from traditional face-to-face learning than modular learning as the former involves direct interaction between a teacher and students. Aside from this, they also miss interacting with their classmates.
However, modular learning for the whole school year was apparently not easy for them. They find doing modules could be enjoyable at first because they do not have to go to school every day from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. But as they got used to it, they just finish the modules so they could have more time to do other things like playing with their friends. They were less motivated to study. Thus, modules have become challenging to accomplish which could be stressful for them as well as their parents. Higher grade levels have more complex lessons than the lower grades, so it would also be more difficult to teach and learn the lessons.
Challenges
The implementation of modular learning and other modes of distance learning is significant for the continuing education of children and youth amid the Covid-19 pandemic. But it has led to several challenges for students, their families, and the educational institutions.
We acknowledge the role of parents or/and guardians, who served as the teachers, mentors and facilitators of their children in the implementation of modular learning and other modes of distance learning. However, some factors have affected their roles as facilitators or teachers to their children. Gaps in skills and knowledge have an impact on the capability to teach or assist their children. In addition, most parents spend most of their time to attend to their businesses or jobs, so they have limited time to assist their children in doing their modules. Some have more than one child to assist so it was not easy for them to attend to both their work and children’s learning.
Learners with different needs also have their challenges. The beginners require more attention, patience, understanding and consideration. They need hands-on assistance from parents or guardians since they cannot do the modules on their own. Moreover, their attention is easily distracted.
Though some students attend to their modules independently, some badly need assistance to understand some of the lessons in the prescribed modules. Some do not have anyone to facilitate learning at home. Others, even with facilitators, still have difficulty comprehending the lessons and thus can hardly proceed or cope up with the succeeding lessons. Submission deadlines for modules further create pressure on students, especially when they fail to meet them. Since the modular approach situates students to learn in the comfort of their homes, there is the possibility that they work on the modules for mere compliance, not for the sake of learning.
Furthermore, students prefer face-to-face classes because the teacher can explain and deliver their lessons in a way that students can understand and learn easily. They may learn from modular learning, but learning with teachers is far better. With the pressure they experience from modular learning, they are unmotivated to study. Passing grades are one of the indicators that the implementation of blended /distance learning is successful, but the real challenge lies in whether the students really learned or not, due to the fact that they struggled with distance learning.
Distance learning has a significant impact not just on students’ learning and skills development, but also on their physical and mental health. Many students experienced mental as well as emotional drainage as they faced several struggles from distance learning. Some were unmotivated or lacked motivation to learn, and got stressed from doing the modules and other learning materials. Staying at home most of the time and limited mobility have further impacted the physical health of students.
Struggles were present even before the school year started. Some wanted an academic freeze but DepEd opted to go ahead with the school year amid the pandemic. Some were afraid to be left behind so despite the struggles in the implementation of distance learning, they had to enroll and took the risk.
Learning during these trying times has brought different challenges to both educational institutions and students and their families. Learning is seen as an opportunity for everyone but the Covid-19 pandemic has put others in disadvantageous and harder situations. As “enhanced” blended/distance learning will still be implemented in the coming school year, will it lead to less challenges and competent learning this time around?
Millions of students in our country who are into blended/distance learning due to Covid-19 face another unprecedented year of disruption in their education. They deserve quality education, thus school reopening and resumption of face-to-face classes should be priorities to protect their future. Getting students back in their classrooms and helping them to catch up and readjust to their learning is vital for their future and well-being.
***CDPC PIC Team