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It may not be the best solution, but an “academic freeze” can be adopted at least until the
nationwide digital divide is fully resolved or accurate results of mass testing are already
evaluated with empirical results in flattening the curve. This will require a flexible academic
calendar and curricula to adjust semester, trimester, and quartermaster systems, lessen the school
days required, lower the number of activities as course requirements, and reduce tuition and
other fees usually projected for on-site classes and use of school facilities.

Moreover, an “academic freeze” can also be adopted through a “no vaccine, no classes”
policy wherein all academic calendars and curricula need not to be adjusted, but just have to
freeze it per academic year. If there is no vaccine yet as of 2020, suspend Academic Year 2020
to 2021 and resume classes on Academic Year 2021 to 2022 without adjusting the June to March
and August to May academic calendars.

Why do we romanticize underprivileged Filipino academic resilience, neglect the digital

divide, and sacrifice the lives of the “hope of the future” by scheduling a flattened curve and
lifting of lockdowns — when there is still no nationwide mass testing — just to resume classes?

Imagine staying online for weeks, paying for the internet, and going to computer shops
all for the sake of compliance while families are struggling and others have nothing to eat,
thinking only how to survive every day.
 Pushing through an “off-site and on-line” mode of learning will just further resurface the
digital divide evident in our educational sphere. Not everyone has a stable internet connection
and it would be hard, or worse, impossible for some students to reach a signal.

Institutions equipped to implement this method, by providing gadgets and student

allowances, would just increase institutional incompetence in resolving the digital divide across
the country, since it would leave students of most institutions behind due to incapacity to adopt
such measures.

Obliging teachers to prepare for the next term is tantamount to overlooking their
conditions as well. Cognitive skills may be enriched through online classes, but it would only
leave the class to be teacher-centered while emotive and motor skills may be undermined since
there is no hands-on guidance, physical experimentation, and practical activities.

This method lacks empathy as schooling amid the global health crisis is no other than
sacrificing your existence for the sake of academic grades, instead of saving a community for the
‘hope of the society’, targeting not the students’ time management but their mental health.

Our world is now facing an unseen-able opponent which given us a great challenge to keep
going in the midst of war, when every single day it brings another problem yet still fighting despite of
this pandemic.

“Academic freeze” will give the country time to have effective and efficient mass testing
or mass vaccination, not only in the hands of one, but for a collective and responsive system to
push through this pandemic.

As far as there are underprivileged students who are victims of a distorted system, they can just
recover from a domestic trauma if inclusive, mental health, and public safety are prioritized.

No student should be left behind. Education is a right, but crisis response speaks of valuing
human lives.