New Normal Educational System

In a journal entitled, “The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Education: Social Exclusion and Dropping
out of School”, it was discussed that schools were closed down because of the virus that was spreading
throughout the country. The transition into distant learning worsened the inequality for students who
belong to the lower class. Because of this, they cannot be able attend and cope with their own classes
and assignments which will lead to being left behind (Tsolou, Babalis & Tsoli, 2021).

The journal quoted a UK-wide literature review by Wilkin et al. (2010) pointing out that “punishing
these students by school exclusion directly increases their risk of further exclusion,

due to poor attendance and falling behind educationally, which can aggravate a tendency for these
groups to be subsequently excluded at a society level, which is already a risk”.

However, these conditions have a bad effect on a child’s health, progress and its approach in making
friends and have an impact on school attendance. As stated by the latest study reports, (Miller, 2020;
OECD, 2020), more or less 1.5 billion students are not in school from 186 global countries across the
world due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

TTeaching and learning in Times of Crisis:

The teaching and learning process assumes a different shape in times of
crisis. When disasters and crisis. When disasters and crisis (man–made
and natural) occur, schools and colleges need to be resilient and find
new ways to continue the teaching – learning activities (Chang –
Richards et al., 2013). One emerging reality as a result of the world
health crisis is the migration to online learning modalities to mitigate the
risk of face to face interaction.

Universities are forced to migrate from face to face delivery to online

modality as a result of the pandemic. In the Philippines, most
universities including Cebu Normal University have resorted to online
learning during school lockdowns. However, this sudden shift has
resulted in problems especially for learners without access to
technology. When online learning modality is used as a result of the
pandemic, the gap between those who have connectivity and those
without widened. The continuing academic engagement has been a
challenge for teachers and students due to access and internet
connectivity.
Reference link:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.678692/full

The Role of Technology in Learning Continuity:

Technology provides innovative and resilient solutions in time of crisis

to combat disruption to communicate and helps people to communicate
and even work virtually without the need for face to face interaction.
This leads to many system changes in organizations as they adopt new
technology for interacting and working (Mark and Semaan, 2008.
However, technological challenges like internet connectivity especially
for places without signals can be the greatest obstacle in teaching and
learning continuity especially for academic institutions who have opted
for online learning as a teaching modality. Thus, the alternative models
of learning during the pandemic should be supported by a well-designed
technical and logistical implementation plan (Edison, 2020.

The nationwide closure of educational institutions in an attempt to

contain the spread of the virus has impacted 90% of the world’s student
population (UNESCO, 2020). It is the intent of this study to look into
the challenges in teaching and learning continuity amidst the pandemic.
The need to mitigate the immediate impact of school closures on the
continuity of learning among learners from their perspective is an
important consideration (Edizon, 2020; Hijazi, 2020; UNESCO, 2020).
Moreover, the teachers’ perspectives are equally as important as the
learners since they are the ones providing and sustaining the learning
process. Teachers should respectively approach these current challenges
to facilitate learning among learners, learner differentiation, and learner-
centeredness and be ready to assume the role of facilitators on the
remote learning platforms (Chi-Kin Lee, 2020; Edison, 2020; Hijazi,
2020).
Reference link:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.678692/full

Reopen Schools:
We are facing in education crisis. For nearly 77 million children, the
pandemic has taken away their classrooms for the past 18 months.
School children worldwide have lost 1.8 trillion hours and counting of in
– person learning due to COVID – 19 lockdowns.
The right to go to school and learn is central to every child’s
development, safety and well – being. Yet in too many countries
classrooms remain closed while social gatherings continue to take place
in restaurants, salons and gyms.
This generation of children and youth cannot afford anymore disruptions
to their education, which is why we’re calling on governments to
“Reopen Schools” as soon as possible and get education back on track.
Reference link:
https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/reopen-schools?
gclid=Cj0KCQiA7oyNBhDiARIsADtGRZbTEJ-
qbBliSJKSbPkXtXZYRIzGEoSFQ7IBYEPRaEOg08us6-
5E5tUaAlsCEALw_wcB
The biggest impact of COVID-19 results from the need for stringent
social or physical distancing, a key intervention that prevents or
mitigates its spread:

On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) China

Country Office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause
detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. The cause would later
be determined as a new type or strain of coronavirus not previously
detected in people.
Coronavirus is named as such because of the crown-like spikes on their
surface. On February 11, 2020, the International Committee on
Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) named the new coronavirus as “severe
acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).” On the same
day, WHO also announced the name of the disease caused by SARS-
CoV-2 as Coronavirus Disease – 2019, or COVID-19. In this document,
we shall use the term COVID-19 to refer to both the virus and the
disease. WHO describes coronaviruses as a large family of viruses that
can cause respiratory illness ranging from the common cold to more
severe diseases. The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever,
dry cough, and tiredness. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal
congestion, sore throat, or diarrhea.
Based on the data from China, about 80 percent of patients experienced
mild illness, 14 percent had severe disease, and five percent became
critically ill. The cases also indicated that illness severity was associated
with patients 60 years and older, as well as with patients that had other
underlying illnesses or medical conditions1.
COVID-19 hit home on January 30, 2020 when WHO declared it a
Public Health Emergency of International Concern, while the
Department of Health (DOH) announced the first patient who tested
positive for it here in the Philippines. Immediately on February 1, 2020,
the Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary issued DepEd Memo
No. 11, s. 2020, creating a Task Force for the management of the
department’s response to COVID-192.
Reference link:
https://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DepEd_LCP_July3.pdf