MULTI-GRADE TEACHING: ITS UPS AND DOWNS

KAREN G. CATU

Every day new babies are born in different parts of the world. The rapid increase in the population entails that there is a need to cope up with the fast increase of people in the globe. With this, the resources to be consumed also increases and the man power needed for this doubles as the time passes by.In some areas that are not yet civilized, the government is having hard time to reach those kids who are in remote areas. Even though, their number is not big enough to have one section in a grade level, they still need to receive quality, which is a right of every child. In this situation, multigrade teaching is being applied.

Multi-grade teaching happens when a teacher handles pupils in one classroom from different grade levels. It is the answer to the dilemma of the pupils who are hungry to learn despite the situation that they are far from the civilized areas. Teachers are able to address their need for literacy and numeracy which they badly need in this time when most of the things are written in black and white or digital print.

On the other hand, the quality of education that these pupils receive may not be compared with the education that the learners from single section receive. It is noted that teachers cannot fully maximize the time for each learner because they need to divide the time among the pupils in the multigrade section. Thus, giving drills and enrichment activities is being neglected.

In addition, the vast preparation of teachers consumes the time to practice the lesson even before the actual teaching-learning process.

Yes, multi-grade teaching is a solution to solve the hunger for education of the children in some areas, still, these kids deserve a quality education just like the others.

— oOo—

The author is Teacher III at San Francisco Elementary School, Lubao North District