Title of the Research:

Unspoken Voices: Exploring the Lived Experiences of Underprivileged Students’ Plight during the New Educational
Landscape

CHAPTER 1
The Problem and Its Background
Introduction:

The COVID-19 outbreak across the world has significantly changed almost all aspects of life, including education,
and the Philippines is no exception to these changes. The pandemic compelled many universities, schools, and
educational facilities to switch to distance learning or online learning immediately. According to UNICEF, schools of
more than 168 million children globally have been entirely closed for almost a year due to the COVID-19
lockdown.

The pandemic has disrupted students' lives in various ways, depending on their category and course of study and
the fact that they have attained their programs. (Daniel, 2020) While thriving distance teaching requires thorough
thinking, planning, and technological and human resources, there was no time for preparation in the current
situation. Varied learning courses, including lectures, tutorials, and laboratory courses, had to be transferred to
online formats, resulting in various simultaneous, asynchronous, and mixed activities. (Klein, 2021)

Currently, learners utilize blended learning, a mixture of online and offline learning modalities using technology.
The Department of Education pledged to provide distance learning access for all students, whether through radio,
television, modular, or online tools. With different kinds of the educational system as the new normal, the
parents, teachers, learners, and all stakeholders confronted with the challenges of establishing connectivity in
regions where there is weak or no signal, charges for the reproduction and packaging of modules, the means of
distribution of instructional packages from the academic instructors to the learners and the need for para-
teachers or community learning facilitators. (Cardamon, 2020)

The abrupt transition from face-to-face learning to modular and online education has been explicitly aggravating
for many instructors and students who prefer in-person learning. Moreover, the switching of instructional
methods has forced schools to engage in a learning flow with complexities and limitations. Despite DepEd's
assurance that every student should adjust to the new learning mode, difficulties arise for those who lack
resources. Most public school learners come from less privileged households, and their mental health has become
a significant concern during this transition period. (Dollanganger, 2020)

Even before Distance Learning, teachers were struggling to equip students with the supplies they need to succeed.
The sudden transition to online learning created a hot debate in the Philippines, citing the poor living conditions
of the learners. (Magsambol, 2020) cites an apparent gap between those who can and cannot afford the aids to
avail the new education strategies. The overall condition of children in the public school system conveys contrast
amidst the DepEd's motto 'no child left behind.' Nonetheless, authorities cannot cancel learning as much as to
drive the economy. The tighter measures for education institutions are sustaining their operations despite the
impending risk. (Ancheta & Ancheta, 2020)

For students from low-income families, the pandemic has been making it difficult for them to access quality
education. They often cannot afford classroom supplies and necessary items for learning. In many developing
countries, economically backward children cannot afford online learning tools and devices, the online education
acts as a risk of exposure to prolonged screen time for the students. (Pokhel & Chhetri, 2021)

The fact that poverty means some learners will be disadvantaged in reaching online learning is insufficient to
withhold all students' access to online education in an emergency crisis. (Bates, 2020) The quarantine triggered by
the pandemic did not just leave school education haywire but also made it expensive and out of reach of children
from more disadvantaged groups of people. The children who study in public schools are likely to suffer in many
ways due to the emerging situation. (Krishna, 2020)

Numerous underprivileged students, who were already hanging behind before the crisis, will have moved further
back. The achievement gap widens at triple the rate in remote schooling compared to a regular class. (Sonnemann
& Goss, 2020) In an environment where the virtual presence and digital classrooms are growing to become a
characteristic of formal education, having a device, personal computer, and a stable internet connection is
advantageous. For people who do not have access to the digital world, this is yet another difficulty that they have
to strive hard to overcome. (Aldama, 2020)

While some students study comfortably in their homes, the pandemic left disadvantaged students scrambling,
often with little or no budget, to acquire needed resources for virtual instruction. The crises had underprivileged
students across the country to be left behind, many of whom were already facing challenges and obstacles, such
as food insecurity, financial stability, or homelessness, to obtaining the education they deserve.

Statement of the Problem or Study

While educational systems in most nations have shifted to online or distance learning, only 30 percent of low-
income countries have done so. The existing digital divide also makes it hard for the disadvantaged population to
reap the benefits of online learning. The inequality in access to secure internet and computing devices like
smartphones or laptops threaten students from low-income backgrounds. If the trend persists, the situation may
worsen, subsequently limiting growth and development opportunities for these disadvantaged students.
(“Learning Gap,” 2020) Because education links income, health, and later jobs, setbacks now will last a lifetime.
Students from low-income families are more likely to be denied education — widening already deep educational
inequalities. (Skipper, 2020)

With the conduct of the new mode of learning, educators and learners continue to encounter challenges.
Although remote learning is the only viable solution for students this academic year, some underprivileged
students suffer countless struggles to ensure that their education is not compromised. Those students who were
already experiencing predicaments such as no proper shelter and no decent food face difficulties and
uncertainties of whether they should continue their learning path.

This study endeavors to understand the learning challenges and difficulties faced by underprivileged students
during the new learning modalities. This study also seeks to recognize the coping strategies they made to survive
in their blended learning class and how effectively students use the existing learning modality.
Research Questions

What are the major challenges described by the underprivileged students in attending their online classes and
answering their modules?
What were the coping strategies they made to address the difficulties they have encountered during their distance
learning?
How effectively do students use the existing new learning modality?

Scope and Delimitation

This study focused on identifying the experiences of underprivileged students living in Cauayan City and
identifying coping strategies they made to survive in their blended learning class during the pandemic. However,
this study has limitations. First, this study follows only qualitative data collection. Second, as the study participants
belonged to Cauayan City students, the findings are only applicable to similar contexts.

Significance of the Study

The findings of this study may provide information beneficial to the following individuals or groups of people:

Underprivileged Students. The study will give them an opportunity to express their struggles and obstacles in
learning amidst the pandemic.

Schools. The results of the study may give a hint towards understanding the significant challenges students face to
improve distance education development. This study will foster new ways of understanding the role of the school
in providing the best learning needs of the students, especially those who are underprivileged.

Deped. This study will encourage educational institutions to ascertain the methods, interventions, or solutions in
assisting underprivileged students who are having difficulty in this new learning modality.

Teachers. This study will be of great help to teachers as regards their essential role to their students. No lessons
should be compromised in times of emergencies and calamities, and every student deserves a chance to learn. In
this view, they may recognize the challenging and unfortunate situations underprivileged students are facing.

Other Researchers. The study's conclusions will serve as a springboard for prospective researchers to conduct
studies that aim to seek knowledge and further testing the theory to solve the gaps in the literature. The research
design used could help conceptualize their tasks.

CHAPTER 2
Review of Related Literature

In the last decade, the connection between poverty and lack of education is a research topic increasingly more
common. Most families living in situations of extreme poverty cannot support sending one or all of their children
to school. (Mihai et al., 2015) However, the Coronavirus pandemic has widened the gaps in the education sector
globally. (Onyema, 2020) The quarantine and extended institutional closures have long-term implications,
especially for the most vulnerable and marginalized children who already endure barriers accessing education or
who are at higher risk of being excluded for several reasons. These include students with incapacities, those in
urban slums, remote settings, informal settlements, and those whose families have lost livelihoods due to job cuts
or business closures and casual jobs, among other difficult situations. (Ngwacho, 2020)

(Catalano et al., 2021) surveyed 300 K-12 teachers in New York state about the tools and accommodations
employed in their online teaching. They asked whether the students are participating in online learning and what
reasons that caused lack of participation. The study results stated that approximately 30% of all students were not
regularly executing their homework and tasks. Furthermore, learners in high-needs communities were
significantly more likely not to accomplish their work.

Learners from disadvantaged backgrounds are reported as being more likely to experience markers of
disengagement, such as daily absence, disruptive behavior, and poor school connectedness. (Hancock & Zubrick,
2015) The inherent effects are diverse, unpredictable upon schools' social and economic capacities and the
student characteristics. Indeed, a rapid global mass movement to online and off-site education may exacerbate
the gap for students from more socially disadvantaged backgrounds. (Chandra et al., 2020) A lack of school
connectedness due to academic institution closures may heighten the risk of educational disengagement,
especially for vulnerable young people. (Baker, 2020)

(Yang, 2004) conducted a qualitative study to determine the students' perception of the quality of online
education. When interviewed, the participants cited delayed feedback from instructors, unavailable technical
support from instructors, lack of self-regulation and self-motivation, the sense of isolation, monotonous
instructional methods, and poorly-designed course content, which caused their negative experiences.

(Biana, 2013) claims that the main force of distance learning is to deliver education to those who are inaccessible,
under-resourced, less-privileged, and unreachable.

Methodology

This study used a qualitative research design. Researchers conducted in-depth individual interviews with the
student participants to explore their insights. The method was based on phenomenology as the researcher wished
to describe their perceptions and lived experiences.

The Center for Innovation in Research and Teaching of Grand Canyon University stated that this design explains
how human beings experience a specific phenomenon and ventures to set aside prejudices and preconceived
opinions about human experiences, feelings, and acknowledgments to a particular circumstance. It allows the
researchers to investigate the perceptions, understandings, perspectives, and feelings of those who have
experienced or lived the phenomenon or condition of interest, or the so-called "lived experiences.

Respondents of the Study

The study respondents comprised