As a parent, I will consider the mental health aspect of my children, an

“academic freeze” must be considered — at least, until and unless the curve has
flattened and mass testing has been made and proven effective. This pertains to
suspending classes or the succeeding academic years in all modes of learning: on-
site, off-site, online, and offline.

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 online” 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.

We have found out that learners who can't do independent learning and have
illiterate parents find it difficult to grasp learning especially that the elders that they
depend upon, cannot teach them because they don't know the concepts inside the
module. This is one factor that hinders the effective implementation of modular
learning, especially if the parents don't communicate with the teacher.

Lastly, the schedule of distribution for "Self-Learning Modules (SLMs)" ,only half
of the total number of parents picked them up. Some parents were afraid to get the
SLMs in school due to the alarming local cases of Covid-19 in the community.