COVID-19: Impact of Distance Learning Education toward Grade 11 STEM

Student’s Academic Performance

Introduction

On the 21st century (today) an unknown pneumonia-like virus manifested in

Wuhan city Hubei province in China (December 31, 2019). After investigating and

isolating a new coronavirus termed severe acute respiratory syndrome-related

coronavirus 2 or SARS-CoV-2 from lower respiratory tract samples of infected

individuals, the WHO named it COVID-19i. Hence on January 30, 2020 Due to the rapid

spread and increase of cases worldwide a month after its emergence the world health

organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a global pandemicii. This global pandemic

(COVID-19) made a huge impact especially in the global education. By May 2, 2020,

according to the WHO 5,488 million confirmed cases in over 180 countries, with about

380 of those cases occurred in the Philippinesiiiiv.

Furthermore, without any hesitations government officials in different countries

around the world including the Philippines authorized unprecedented social containment

measures to prevent and minimize the spread of the virus this includes social distancing,

lockdowns and closing educational institutions temporarily. CHED, DEPED and other

educational institutions had to create distance learning opportunities in order to complete

the 2019 – 2020 academic years. The traditional in-person classroom teaching has to be

drastically transitioned to mostly distance learning, where education is done remotely on

digital platforms. At present there are over 865 private schools suspend operation

affecting 58, 327 students and 4,488 teachersv. Although at some educational institutions,
distance learning is not a new approach, the rapid, unplanned, and uncertain period of

time of the approach, is presenting obstacles, challenges and taking a toll on students at

all educational levels including grade 11 STEM students. Thus, the goal of this research

was to find out how the transition to distant learning affects the grade 11 STEM students

in ICCT Colleges Cogeo campus. The purpose is to uncover students’ academic obstacles

and unanticipated benefits of distant learning, and then utilize that knowledge to suggest

strategies that may be used in the event of future crises affecting education.
i
References
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ii
Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe. Timeline: WHO’s COVID-19 response (2021)

iii
World Health Organization. Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Situation Report – 128. (2020). Available online
at: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200527-covid-19-sitrep-128.pdf?
sfvrsn=11720c0a_2 (accessed September 9, 2020).

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iv
 Prevention CfDCa. Corona Virus 2019 Cases in the US. (2020). Available online
at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html (accessed September 9, 2020).