Background of the Study

As the great technological advancement has raised our standard of living especially
during this pandemic, it brought a huge impact on everyone’s life. The COVID-19 has resulted
in schools to shut all across the world and everyone has shifted into the traditional set-up on
face-to-face classes has shifted to online and distance learning. Before the pandemic, the use of
language applications, virtual tutoring, video conferencing tools, or learning online learning
software has grown significantly. The sudden spread of the virus has made everyone transfer and
adjust to the “new normal” set-up in daily lives particularly in education.

Starting from the first two months of the pandemic, almost every country in the world
decided to temporarily close each educational institution to contain the spread of the COVID-19
pandemic in the hope of reducing the infections (UNESCO, 2020). The aftermath of this closure
has affected more than 1.2 billion learners worldwide with more than 28 million learners in the
Philippines (UNESCO, 2020). Since the lockdown started, the implementation of online learning
and distance learning gives rise to different risks, challenges, problems for both teachers and
students, specifically those who are in higher education institutions (Bao, 2020). As of
November 30, 2020, in the Philippines, there are 431, 630 cases of COVID-19 with 24, 580
active cases and still increasing (DOH, 2020) with more than sixty-three million cases all over
the world (Worldometer, 2020).

In regards to the current situation, the Department of Education adopted the situation of
the new normal in education. The Department of Education (DepEd) decided to implement the
Learning Continuity Plan (LCP) for the academic year 2020-2021. The opening of classes was
originally planned to start on August 24, 2020, but moved to October 05, 2020, because of the
Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) in Metro Manila and the provinces of
Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna, and Rizal (DepEd, 2020). Furthermore, in higher education, the
Commission on Higher Education (CHED) was given to base their assessment of the situation in
their localities with their academic freedom and should execute the availability of online distance
learning, e-learning, and other alternative modes of delivery in respect to the student’s situation
(CHED, 2020).

Toquero (2020) stated that in terms of teaching, the training to online instruction, blended
and distance learning is highly recommended to adopt in the new normal teaching format. The
competencies in both pedagogical and technological should be strengthened. Due to the
transition of this new normal from the traditional face-to-face classes, institutions should study
how successful online learning is in favor of providing quality education and outcomes-based
education to the learners (Basilaia & Kvavadze, 2020).

Karalis (2020) argued that what is worth studying after returning to normality, is the
implications that have arisen for the day after, and those are the adjustments that need to be
made, and to what extent the experience of a different situation can be used as a starting point for
reflection on the conditions that until now defined the basic dimensions of education and
learning in formal education systems and organizations. The delivery of quality education and its
instruction on every school may still continue to arise in the future due to the COVID-19
pandemic.

Higher education institutions have the dual responsibility of protecting the welfare of
students and provision of education. Nevertheless, by strengthening the public health measures at
schools, it would protect our children as well as providing the students an opportunity to learn
about infectious disease control through life event approach (Lee et al, 2003). The educational
system, especially higher education, should prioritize literacy for the world to adeptly deal with a
future virus outbreak (Toquero, 2020).

REFERENCES:

Bao, W. (2020). COVID‐19 and online teaching in higher education: A case study of Peking
University. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies.
https://doi.org/10.1002/hbe2.191

Basilaia, G., & Kvavadze, D. (2020). Transition to Online Education in Schools during a SARS-
CoV-2 Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic in Georgia. Pedagogical Research, 5(4).
https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/7937

CHED. (2020). CHED COVID-19 ADVISORY NO. 3. Retrieved from https://ched.gov.ph/wp-

content/uploads/CHED-COVID-2019-Advisory-No.-3.pdf

DepEd. (2020). Official Statement Department of Education. Retrieved from

https://www.deped.gov.ph/2020/08/14/official-statement-on-the-opening-of-classes/
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nCoV

Karalis, T. (2020). Planning and Evaluation during Educational Disruption: Lessons Learned
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Lee, A., Cheng, F. F. K., Yuen, H., et al. (2003). How would schools step up public health
measures to control spread of SARS? Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health,
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Worldometer. (2020). Coronavirus Update (Live): 63,363,172 Cases and 1,470,304 Deaths from
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