What is the role of Covid19 to the New

Normal in Education?
Our world is in the crucial crisis of a pandemic, the COVID-19 CoronaVirus Disease 19. Some
say that it is not as dangerous as other pandemics that our world faced before. However many
countries and its people are currently suffering in this world pandemic and unfortunately we still
don’t have any vaccines or cure for this as many scientists are still struggling for the solution to
this.

 What is CoronaVirus? And how is it related to any Corona viruses we faced before such as
MERS and SARS? What are the effects and symptoms of this? And now that we’re currently on
ECQ or Lockdown what is the effect of this to students?

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which may cause illness in animals or humans.  In
humans, several coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory infections ranging from the
common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The most recently discovered coronavirus causes
coronavirus disease COVID-19. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease
caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It was first
identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province, and has since
spread globally, resulting in the ongoing 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic.

Currently, the Philippines have 9,223 total confirmed cases, 1,214 recovered patients and 607
deaths. On January 30, 2020 it was when the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Metro
Manila. It involved a 38-year-old Chinese woman who was confined in the San Lazaro Hospital
in Manila. The second case was confirmed on February 2, a 44-year-old Chinese man who died
a day earlier, which was also the first confirmed death from the disease outside mainland China.
The first case of someone without travel history abroad was confirmed on March 5, a 62-year-
old male who frequented a Muslim prayer hall in San Juan, Metro Manila, raising suspicions that
a community transmission of COVID-19 is already underway in the Philippines. The man's wife
was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 on March 7, which was also the first local
transmission to be confirmed.

We all know that our country is one of the so called” third world countries”. Many of our
population are still struggling for our daily needs and some are homeless. And unfortunately
because many of us seem doesn’t care and keep on disobeying the ECQ rules, the Philippines
has the third most number of cases in Southeast Asia, after Singapore and Indonesia.

As the cases of this pandemic arise and because of the rules and regulations that our leader
implemented there are now so called “New Normal”. Wherein it is different to what normal we
had before this pandemic. Like we must stay at home if do not have the ECQ baranggay pass,
wearing face masks when were outside our premises, we need to disinfect all the groceries we
bought from the market, frequently wash our hands whenever or whatever the reason is and
maintain at least 1meter to 2 meters distance or social distancing. And with this, Speaker Alan
Peter Cayetano along with several leaders of the House of Representatives filed House Bill
6623 which seeks to establish policies and regulations for the "new normal" in the workplace
and in public spaces.
The approval of House Bill 6623 shall allow for the implementation of various mechanisms to
further protect the Filipinos while ensuring the restoration of livelihood opportunities and sources
of income for all. It provides that standards for the “new normal” shall consist of/apply to the
following:

(a) Universal and mandatory safety measures, such as the mandatory wearing of masks in
public places and the mandatory social distancing,

(b) Management and regulation of government-managed public spaces and privately-managed

spaces,

(c) Management of public transportation,

(d) Monitoring of schools and learning institutions, and

(e) Monitoring of private commercial and industrial workplaces.

 Meanwhile for workplace-specific protocols, the following shall be implemented:

(a) Food services shall resume operations with take-out/delivery service only and gradually re-
introduce dine-ins, and strictly implement physical distancing within the establishment,

(b) Commercial stores shall identify the maximum number of people allowed inside, but also
promote online transactions and services, and

(c) Schools shall integrate online classes in their curriculum, provide staggered school
days and smaller class sizes when on-site classes resume, as well as provide daily
temperature checks and weekly checkups for students and staff, among others.

And in this regard all classes and school activities “shall remain suspended until further notice
without prejudice to the academic freedom and levels of autonomy enjoyed by institutions of
higher learning in the governance of their own academic affairs” making it subject to
consultation with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher
Education (CHED).

This being said, both private and public schools should come up with online platforms to allow
students to learn online. The bill notes, however, that no student shall be unreasonably
penalized for their inability to participate in online classes due to connectivity and lack of
gadgets or equipment.

While home school and online learning are among the proposed solutions, access to technology
and the internet, especially in remote areas, remains a challenge. In the public education
system, it is not uncommon for students to lack internet connection at home or be unable to
afford to “load” their phones regularly. Some do not even have computers or phones at all. As
this is a reality that many schools, students, and communities will face, the DepEd proposes a
combination of different learning modalities and will be using the Blended Learning approach.

In-classroom study and individual study/online classroom work, or Blended Learning, will allow
students to learn at their own pace under guided modules. The DepEd has launched an online
study platform called DepEd Commons, accessible to both private and public schools, to help
students continue their lessons. It has also developed an ALS platform in partnership with
Unicef called ICT4ALS, a portal of learning resources, activity sheets, and online tutorials for
ALS teachers and learners.

However, the challenge of technology access still remains for us public school students. Other
factors such as home environment (conduciveness to learning), learner attitudes toward home
learning, and technology competence can affect learner outcomes and the effective use of
Blended Learning.

Education’s new normal will not just be about operating in an environment that secures the
health of students; nor will it be about completely transitioning to online modalities. Instead, it
should be about using technology to increase efficiency in areas with the capacity to do so,
while empowering learners and communities to create positive learning environments in which
the student can grow. It should not sacrifice quality but continue to provide equal opportunities,
most especially to the marginalized and vulnerable sectors. It is not a one-size-fits-all solution,
but one that is dependent on the needs of each learning community.

In his explanatory note of the proposed "New Normal for the Workplace and Public Spaces Act
of 2020", Speaker Cayetano stressed that the country cannot simply proceed “as if things can
still go back to ‘normal’” or how it was prior to the outbreak, when workplaces and businesses
reopen together with the resumption of other economic activities