Crisis in Education and Learning

I personally like face-to-face classes than online classes for a couple of reasons. First,

students can learn efficiently on face-to-face classes because their interaction with their

teachers is more engaging. Second, we are much used to applying physical teaching

strategies than virtual teaching methods. Lastly, the face-to-face learning environment is

much more suitable for the current curriculum. On the sad side, we are in the middle of

a pandemic which puts us in a worse place to administer our education. In fact, Manila

Times published an article that says the online class will worsen the abilities of 2.7

million Filipino students. This is because some students have a poor internet connection

and don’t have personal gadgets. The Philippines is constantly pushing efforts to meet

our high education standards. Still, we keep having low scores in the international

education performance indices. We are still the weakest in science, mathematics, and

reading in terms of competence. This calls our education to positively change their

policies and structures to improve our educational performance. According to Mr.

Reynaldo C. Lugtu, Jr., Teachers are horribly pressured to complete new learning

materials to give to their students. This is because they intend these new materials for

the online classes. The late resume of classes thru online learning causes the rapid and

overclocked production of learning materials. It is exhausting for teachers, especially

they only receive a low salary. Now that we know the issues, we always believe that

there is a solution to any problems. Filipinos have been through many adjustments and

improvements in education, but that was when the Philippines is still flexible in making

changes. We hear many concerns and necessary excuses from the students. Still, the

school administration is relatively silent with their responses to the learners.

Discontinuing face-to-face classes worsen the learning capabilities of the students

because most students don't have personal gadgets. In fact, this problem leads to more

danger and tragedy—some forces themselves to use internet cafe outside, which

sometimes leads to the untimely accident. A student from Capiz State University died

from a terrifying motorcycle accident while looking for an internet cafe to send her

school requirements. This means that online classes put some students in horrible

danger. I finely understand the students will search for outdoor internet sources

because the Philippines internet connection sucks in the first place. Our

telecommunication companies are still struggling to provide quality internet connectivity

even for decades. I firmly believe that having better internet connectivity will reduce

students' exposure to dangers during this pandemic. On the other side, Asian countries

worldwide know that the Philippines still have low marks in education performance

surveys. It is necessary to change the school policies, curriculum, resources, and

teaching methods during this pandemic because it will help us completely adjust to the

new normal. We should support the ongoing establishment of the new Education

Commission because it will help positively change our schools' policies and structures.

To add, school administrations should create an effective plan in returning our students

into the classroom for learning because this will help us boost our students' learning

efficiency. These solutions are all for our student's safety, but we must also consider our

teachers' efforts. Public-school teachers' low salary causes them to avail expensive

loans, which distracts them from doing their jobs. Increasing their wage will put us at a

higher advantage because it will provide teachers a good source for giving our students

a high-quality education. Students are more relying on memorization than actually

learning the subjects because online classes caused poor learning structure and

teaching methods. We should fix the learning issues today because our present and

future depend on it.

Online Source:

https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/02/04/business/columnists-business/crisis-in-

education-and-learning/836724/amp/