THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN THE NEW NORMAL

The pandemic stirred the state of education in the Philippines as schools

were closed and the movement of people was limited. As the new school year
approaches the education sector faces another problem – the new methods of
learning delivery. Last May the department announced that the opening of
classes will be on the August 24, but this was differed by an executive order of
President Duterte moving the opening of classes to October 5. What will be the
states’ solution and how will they approach the new normal of learning?
According to the statistics of national learner enrolment by the Department
of Education, almost 23 million students are already enrolled this school year but
it is still far behind from the 27 million enrolment last school year making it
86.03%. This simply implicates that students are still hesitant due to the risks that
the pandemic brought. However, according to the Department of Education they
were already expecting lesser numbers of students and they already reached their
estimated number enrollees.
The Department of Education stated that they were prepared for the new
normal as the preparations of the new learning modalities were introduced. The
new learning modalities includes modular, television-based, radio-based, blended
and online learning. Aside from the alternative learning modalities according to
Deped Sec. Briones the self-learning modules will be also integrated addressing
the needs, resources and situations of every learners to cover all the bases in
insuring that basic education will be accessible amid the present crisis posed by
COVID 19.
The new education ecosystem affects the learners. Although the
department presented different modalities, students will possibly be shocked by
the abrupt changes in the landscape of education. These new methods may be for
everyone but the fact that it is still novel on the most of students and the basic
education sectors’ first time of implementation this will mostly affect the
academic views and motivation of students and also the teachers. The actual
demonstration of competencies will also be affected threatening the quality of
learning especially those lessons that requires laboratory, skills demonstration
and physical activities. The new technologies introduced also poses another
possible problem to those that still lacks knowledge to access. But the education
sector clearly stated that the choice and contextualization of learning modalities
of schools will depend with the local situation as well as access to learning
platforms.
Though this tough decision of the department may have some unavoidable
flaws, the most important thing is that education still continues. Putting every
negative aspects aside, the program will be very helpful not just in the time of
pandemic but also even during calamities which our country always experience.
This pandemic paved way to the revolution of a new and innovative education
which is more effective and inclusive. The addition of medical workers in the
schools should be considered in the future to assure that every learner and
teacher will have a safe and healthy school ecosystem. The improvement of the
health protocols of the schools for better adaptive measures every calamity
should also be discussed for the health safety of everyone.