Joshua Andre A.

Dela Cerna

Grade 11-Carnelian

Rejecting Academic Freeze in the Philippines

Academic freeze has been a sensational topic amongst students and educational instructors from all
over the country. Students petitioned for academic freeze to be implemented due to occurring breakout
of COVID 19 virus. Many are in favor of this agenda. But according to Education Secretary Leonor
Briones, delaying the school opening further would be very detrimental to children. The call for
academic freeze will halt all opportunities for students and thus, will affect them economically.

Academic freeze is a temporary halt of education due to certain circumstances where students and
educational instructors are affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Months after cities and provinces were put
to lockdown due to COVID-19 virus, there was an uproar of students and teachers in social media urging
the Department of Education to cancel opening of classes in both public and private due to some
challenges faced by students and teachers as they enter the distance learning according to them. The
Department of Education (DepEd) dismissed this agenda as to this may have a massive impact on the
lives of the students “economically.” Some may say that academic freeze is an effective solution, not
knowing the negative impact of it on our society.

As a student who aspires to become financially successful in life, I agree on the continuation of classes as
we, considered as the “country’s future” have rights to formal education. Students who are still willing
to continue their education will be affected if the freeze were to be implemented According to
Catapang, “A delay of one semester already means a lot to those who will take on the role of
breadwinners of their respective family” which means it will affect their employment opportunities.
There will be a decline in professionals produced by the country each year and would mean that there
will several healthcare workers will not be added to the workforce in times of need- Rappler. Teachers
and faculty members will lose their livelihood due to mass suspension of jobs caused by the sudden halt
of school operations. CHED Chairman Prospero de Vera III, in a senate hearing in May, said that over
50,000 part-time lecturers were needing financial aid. These faculty members were not part of any
financial subsidy program of government (Magsambol,2020). “The effect of this economic downturn is
that they have no money for their children who will enroll in their respective schools,” said De Vera.
There will be a larger difference in learning between those in kindergartens and nurseries as they were
not exposed to traditional way of learning which is vital and may become too reliant on their parents as
they develop. Businesses centered around school supplies etc. may shutdown due to the lack of
customers. More schools may shutdown since there is a decrease in the number of enrollees. The
Department of Education (DepEd) reported on September 14 that at least 865 private schools are
suspending their operations this year due to the dwindling number of enrollees and their inability to
meet the requirements of a distance learning setup (Magsambol,2020).

The Department of Education presented students learning options such as modular learning which
focuses on giving students handbooks and activities and are also beneficial to those who are unable to
attend online classes due to their current situations. On the other hand, students can also choose online
learning if they it is more convenient to them. Rappler stated that DepEd had adjustments to ensure
that millions of students enrolled at the basic education level will continue learning even if conduct of
face-to-face is not yet allowed. “We will make this available and we will also continue to make it flexible
and we will make adjustments, mindful of the idea that we will enable the child to really learn the most
foundational skills – the most essential ones that they will find useful later in their lives” Diosdado San
Antonio said (Magsambol,2020).

In conclusion, academic freeze is not entirely a solution to our educational systems current situation.
Pursuing to find and make alternatives in continuing academics is more beneficial than stopping it. We
should at least cooperate with our government instead of criticizing them for their fault, in this way we
can hasten and implement flexible and effective solutions. We should not make this current crisis an
interference to our education and together through to reaching out our aid to everyone, we can
conquer this obstacle. As to what Einstein have said, “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and
cease only at death.”