DOCUMENT REVIEW IN TRENDS & ISSUES IN EDUCATION

In a surprise move, the Department of Education (DepEd) postponed the

opening of classes for school year 2020-2021 from August 24 to October
5, 2020.
This is not the first time that school opening has been moved this year. As COVID-
19 cases continued to rise, the usual June opening of classes was first moved to
August 24. But the almost two-month extension appeared to be inadequate for
DepEd to transition to the overhauled education system, prompting a second
postponement to October.
DepEd decided to shift to distance learning for the coming school year to comply
with President Rodrigo Duterte's directive for schools to delay face-to-face classes
until a coronavirus vaccine becomes available.
Can government now deliver safe, accessible, and quality education for all
students? Here's a list of the issues that government must prioritize before millions
of basic education students start schooling.

PRINTING OF MODULES
Modular learning is the "backbone" of the DepEd's distance
learning program as access to technology remains a problem for most students.
Other modes of learning such as online, and TV and radio broadcasts would
supplement the modules.
The printing of modules was supposedly the reason why the school opening was
postponed yet again. There had been reports that some teachers didn’t have copies
of the modules weeks before the original date of the school opening.
In a virtual press briefing on August 24, DepEd said that at least 4 schools
division offices (SDOs) were "lagging behind" on the printing of modules. Only
7 regions were in the "advanced" status of printing, which means the SDOs in
these regions are already printing 80% to 100% of SLMs. These regions are:
Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao,
Caraga, and the National Capital Region (NCR).
Education Undersecretary Revsee Escobedo said the insufficient budget and
supplies of bond paper contributed to the delay in the printing of learning
materials.
While schools have a budget allocation for the shift to distance learning filed under
school maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), teachers said this
budget can be easily depleted due to the sheer number of modules that need to be
printed. 
Teachers from public schools took it upon themselves to launch donation drives to
raise funds for bond paper and printers.

QUALITY CHECK OF BROADCAST CONTENT

DepEd started a test run of television episodes for distance learning from
August 11 until August 18. The first day of the test broadcast, however, did not go
smoothly. 
In one of the episodes aired, netizens were quick to point out "painful"
grammatical errors in sample questionnaires for an English course. After being
criticized, DepEd vowed to improve the TV episodes. "Expect the agency to
continue fixing issues to make sure everything is ready for the school opening,
whether it's online, on radio or TV, or through modular learning," Education
Undersecretary Alain Pascua said in Filipino.

TECHNOLOGY ACCESS
While online learning is only one option for distance learning, data shows
that not all households in the Philippines have access to the internet.
Citing data from the National Telecommunications Commission, DepEd said that
as of December 2019, 67% of the Philippine population have access to the
internet. 
Numerous social media posts have gone viral, showing Filipino students climbing
trees, or even mountains, just to get a good internet signal for their classes. This
outraged both netizens and student groups that called out educational institutions
for prioritizing academic output over student welfare. But internet access is just
part of a bigger problem for online classes.
Distance learning has caused a lot of concern among families, especially
those who could not afford the tools needed for it. Students have resorted to
different measures to meet the demands of schooling.

SAFETY
Teachers' anxieties over the opening of school only worsened when DepEd
said it has no budget allotted for the treatment of teachers who contract COVID-
19. DepEd, however, pointed out that all government employees, including DepEd
employees, are covered by PhilHealth, which is now a subject of investigation
because of corruption allegations. As of August 23, a total of 823 students and
DepEd personnel have contracted the coronavirus disease.
Teachers and parents raised concerns about the modular learning setup as
they fear contracting the virus during the distribution and retrieval of learning
materials.
 "These teachers’ direct exposure to an infected parent highlights the risks
associated with module distribution, largely due to lack of preventive measures at
schools," said Secretary General of Alliance of Concerned Teachers Raymond
Basilio.

Basilio said the "old problematic ways of DepEd" will cause more harm than
ever at this time of pandemic. "We need substantial measures to ensure school
safety, and not further hazards like allowing it to be used as an isolation center," he
added.

BUDGET
Everything boils down to the lack of a sufficient budget. Amid funding
issues for distance learning, DepEd earlier explained that their approved budget for
2020 does not include the cost of the revamped education system.
In an interview with Rappler on August 22, Education Undersecretary Anne
Sevilla said that DepEd has requested an additional P65 billion budget for distance
learning. However, in a virtual press conference on August 24, Sevilla said that
DepEd failed to secure this from Congress.
"Sabi natin may P65 billion na supplemental at hindi nga natin ito nakuha at
hindi rin siya makakamit within the year. So kailangan po natin magawa ang mga
adjustment at 'yung mga adjustment na 'yan ay na-issue na rin through policy
covers," Sevilla said.
(We said that we need a P65-billion supplemental budget, we failed to get
this, and we cannot get this within the year. So we need to do the adjustments, and
these adjustments were issued through policy covers.)
Sevilla, however, noted that the P65 billion is being considered for the 2021
budget.
She also said DepEd is now using its existing P500-billion budget to support
the basic education-learning continuity plan (BE-LECP). P400 billion has already
been allocated for salaries of personnel.
Of the remaining P100 billion, P9 billion has already been downloaded to
schools for the printing of modules; P17 billion has been realigned and modified;
while P500 million has been set aside for reimbursement of expenses related to the
observance of minimum health standards.
The Special Education Fund amounting to P20 billion was also aligned to
BE-LCP.
Sevilla told reporters that ideally, DepEd would need P433 billion for its
programs. Under conservative circumstances, as in present times, the agency
would need P105 billion, including the fund for the laptop of teachers worth P27
billion.
Rappler asked Sevilla if DepEd can continue the school year even without
the P65-billion supplemental budget. She said: "Like what we said, from the ideal,
we went to the conservative, and now we're going to the adjusted modality. There's
still a way... This will never be a hindrance for us to continue."

Senator Ralph Recto, an economist, estimated that DepEd would be needing

P30 to P35 billion more, "with other fund realignments, donations, grants from
local governments, bulk printing already factored in," to print the learning modules
of some 21 million public school students for one full academic year.
Recto's 93.6 billion pages estimate for the modules was pegged at just 80%
of DepEd enrollees needing printed materials, with the rest getting these online. He
made his estimations based on 20 pages per subject a week, 8 subjects, for 34
weeks, to be used by 17.206 million public school students out of the 21.507
million public students enrolled.
"Even if you cut the number of pages per subject by half, to 10 pages, we
will still be needing between 48 billion to 59 billion pages," he said.
Whether the total cost is P48 billion, or P96 billion, or P117 billion, what
funds DepEd has at the moment will not be enough, Recto warned.

Reference: https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/explainers/school-opening-
philippines-issues-need-solution-before-october-5-2020