Evaristo, Christian Rey Dominic T.

BA-202

THE VOICE: Students shout for #AcademicFreezeNow

With our country battling against the CoronaVirus pandemic, various daily and normal activities
transform into a new norm of living thus coining the word "New Normal". This includes the
postponing of face-to-face classes for the school year 2020-2021 which is replaced by online classes
today and this situation leaves the students cry for #AcademicFreeze.

Students are not robots. We are also humans. Students like us also feel the difficulty amidst the
pandemic because of the transition from physical classes into dealing with online classes. Bombarded
with numerous activities, overloaded with various subject meetings, overlapping deadlines and poor
connectivity are some of the problems we encounter today. Are we even learning something from
them? Perhaps the deal today is to just pass all the requirements even though we encounter some
self-study lessons and modules. The fact that we just go with the flow of the new curriculum for
online classes clearly shows that we just think of not being left behind but after months of
experiencing this new norm of studying, eventually we feel drained and so exhausted balancing our
duties at home and duties as a student. Clearly, these dilemmas can lead to some mental health issues
which will affect our performance which will even be worse. I don't know why the government keeps
on shutting down our voices that shouts an academic freeze when clearly this is not a solution to
adapt to the new way of learning.

The cry for #AcademicFreeze does not solely benefit us, the students, but also the faculty and
teachers. Educators also experience problems concerning this online class like slow internet
connection, and adjustment to this new norm especially for the older teachers who are not familiar
with the advanced technology today and this can take the allotted time designated for them which can
lead to another problem. Instead of compiling different grades, teachers instead collect different
problems.

The recent devastating Typhoon Ulysses and Typhoon Rolly lead to many destruction of
infrastructures and facilities including learning materials needed for online classes. The statement
made by DepEd Secretary Briones outraged us because of the idealistic solution she mentioned. Iron
your modules? Is this even realistic? I don't know why she keeps on suggesting solutions when the
situation clearly depicts an academic problem being experienced. In addition to this, news about a
father dying because of retrieving his child's module has risen which led to more complaints about
online classes and created a louder shout for academic freeze. This tragic event led us to even more
question the competence of the Department of Education on how they handle this new curriculum.

I think that the Department of Education should consider the welfare of the students, parents and
educators. Not all of us have an equal source of good connectivity and sufficient materials to
continue participating in this new normal. Our cry for academic freeze will not budge even if they
continue to turn a blind eye on what's happening today. The pandemic is not the country's problem,
the government is.
Evaristo, Christian Rey Dominic T. BA-202