Reflection paper on Education trends and issues

“Education is a key element to a prosperous nation.” When colonialism arose in the Philippines
the traditional, cultural, political, economical, social and educational aspects were highly influenced. In
Spanish period the privilege of attaining education was limited to those high and middle class families in
the society. When American ruled and occupied the Philippines around 1898, the system of education
began to propagate throughout the country. In this era, English language was introduced as the primary
language of instruction. So the Philippines’ education system was modeled after America's school
system, and this became the most important contribution that Americans bequeathed to Filipino.

As time goes by, drop out of students become rampant because of poverty particularly in rural
areas and it affects the economic growth of the Philippines. However, the Duterte’s administration
proposed a propaganda that helps the country to be economically stable. In 2017, the National
Economic and Development Authority of the Philippines issued the Philippine Development Plan 2017-
2022, an inclusive plan for the next 5 years. That aims to become an upper-middle income country by
the year 2022. The Government believes that human capital development is the primary element in this
strategy. In order to achieve this goal, the Government sought to boost the graduation rates of the
Philippines by improving the quality of education.

Recently, the proliferation of a virus called Covid19 has become a major crisis worldwide, and
challenges humanity as well as the leaders of different countries. Education was the one being affected
and academic freeze became a debatable issue. The citizens opposed the idea of having a face-to-face
class and desired a postponement of the school year. However, the Department of Education (DepEd)
laid out a solution which is what we call now a blended learning; Online learning and modular learning.
Many concerns arose regarding the opening of classes with a new system, and one of those is the poor
internet connection and lack of gadgets/technologies of students particularly to those impoverished
families.

The DepEd stated that the opening of classes was the right choice, they assured that everything
was settled before the classes start. Insisting the fact that they provided innovative teaching strategies,
better internet access, and modules that were ready for distribution. In contrast, teachers voiced out the
government’s failure to conduct a mass testing, lack of contact tracing teams, and the shortage of health
workers, what more in improving internet connection and providing gadgets/technologies with a little
span of time. Before the pandemic, a lot of schools struggling in funding, lack of facilities, and high
enrollment rates, it is being feared that it will become worse in this pandemic situation.

According to my own viewpoint, the students gained knowledge became limited because of the
teacher-student-interaction inside the classroom was prohibited since online class and modular class
inside their home was implemented. We all know that not all students are capable of learning at their
own pace. Therefore, the students as well as the teachers need an understanding and consideration in
order to feel them at ease. In addition, there are some issues about students killing themselves because
of academic pressure that triggers their depression and anxiety. Everyone deserves a mental health
break, why? Because probably everyone knows that physical health is important but mental health is
way more important. Me and my fellow students hoped that the society would loosen up a bit and
lower their standards when it comes to expectations. No one is perfect in this world, likewise in the
education system especially in this pandemic situation. However, what we need right now is a system
that will shape education not a system that will kill education.