There is a need to restructure. But it's not all about changing the school calendar.
by Anna Liza VB
***The writer is a former full-time media practitioner prior to being a full-time mom and freelance writer. She was also a former part-time teacher, and had a brief stint at a private school in the Philippines, at the turn of the Y2K decade.
The article below is an opinion on the challenges of current changes made in the education calendar and with inputs on the other changes on what can be done to make education more liberal, accepting, and democratic to all families enrolling their kids for basic education in the country.
***
There is nothing that compels a full-time mom to push her strength further in house chores and work, but the need to give her child the best education possible.
Complementary to food as essential in life, a mom always posits to make sure her kid, no matter what economic status she is in, is given a time-worthy education.
In the Philippines, there are only two choices for these to happen: to enroll a child in a public school where all things are free and subsidized by the government, excluding the daily miscellaneous expenses of the schooler.
Another option would be to enroll a kid at a private school, where rates are different, and far fetching from public education; a more stifled approach for those who want to gain it free in life.
In the eighties up to the nineties era, public school education was mostly chosen by those coming from lower-income families. And also by families who may not necessarily live below the poverty line, but those who work for the government as employees. At that time, public school education was THE ONLY way, a certain economic class like (C-D-E), can afford an education without the worries of paying.
THE SCHOOL SETTING
The pavement to learning was well-structured. School buildings may not necessarily be as complete and as presentable as a private school, but the structures were there to accommodate students who mostly inculcated the importance of studying. The books were also free, but they were not necessarily complete. Public learners still have to buy a book; photocopy lectures and manuals; submit projects and commute to school, all of which entail additional costs for parents.
It's different in private schools where kids were afforded better amenities and has access to well-trained faculty that conforms to a specific curriculum that may not necessarily be a replica of a public school curriculum; but a more tailored one that adapts to students' capacities, special talents, needs and trends at a given time.
Aside from the above differences in public versus private school education, there was also a cultural consideration for parents of learners when it comes to choosing the right education.
These can be a factor in gauging whether to put their kid at a public school or spend for a more expensive education. The notable disparity is punctuated by a diaspora of settings and adjustments that learners have to contend with.
These include attitudinal and behavioral differences between learners in a public school versus those from a private school. The differences were plenty not just countable, but well-defined.
THE CALENDAR CHANGE
When the blended learning system kicked in during the pandemic, Philippine schools had to embrace a new school calendar that let past the summer days and jumped right into the months of the rainy season.
The new school calendar was raved about as early as June, but classes began in August. There were variations on the exact first school day opening because some opted to start weeks earlier in July; while some opted for an August opening.
What this meant for students was a different timeline that gave them a breather during the hot summer months and a continual learning that got resuscitated in the rainy season--August to September after all, are still months when heavy rains and typhoons come to our country. However, a change in the school calendar may not have spelled an outright change in the dynamics of learning. But the mode of delivery, for the instruction to culminate, turned a new leaf for the Philippine educational system.
THE ESSENTIALS OF BLENDED LEARNING AND HOMESCHOOL
Whereas face-to-face classes were the stimulus for socialization for students, the change in the delivery of instruction incapacitated this benefit.
Students have to be "situated" fairly for a good number of hours at their desks initially at 3 hours minimum even for primary school students. They also had to be given access to a computer, and all the hardware accessories that help facilitate online studies- like a camera, a mouse, and available ports and USB drives to serve as external memory for lectures and homework, printables and school to parent memos.
Teachers adjusted fairly to the introduction of web instructional mode, a concept unknown in the eighties to the nineties when the traditional way is by "chalk and blackboard". And never through the route of digital learning.
Fairly well, both students from public schools and private schools had to shoulder these new challenges of learning fast, and ably the ways of digital learning. Like how to use the keyboard, operate the mouse, and use the camera to be seen by the online teacher at the other end of the learning channel. These skills took hours and months, to be learned by adults. And the young learners could only gasp and learn fast and exacted frustration as well when the connection interrupted their studies online.
But young kids had to join the digital space of education unless the parents were brave to stop the continuity of learning.
THE HURDLES
For a housewife, continuing her child's education during the time of pandemic can be rewarding in such a way that her child would not feel the sudden socialization deprivation brought about by the new normal. But she has to learn as well the basic amenities needed to set up an appropriate homeschool, blended learning student desk.
Not only must she have to research the intricacies of a homeschooling setup, but she must also have a stable internet connection to make certain of the learning realities.
To be continued here on News Review Philippines
