A Teacher’s Life Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic
John Louie L. Balingit
Some people thought that amidst the pandemic, public school teachers are earning money for just sitting around. As the number of frontliners being infected by the SARS-CoV-2 increases, netizens suggested that instead of doing nothing, teachers should assist the armed forces in checkpoints or substitute our medical personnel so they can have some rest. Teachers were criticized as if they are not entitled to receive their salary. The question is, are they really getting paid for doing nothing?
In spite of the devastating pandemic, the Department of Education aims to deliver quality education for the school year 2020-2021. That is why, as early as April, DepEd encouraged the teachers to attend various webinars to be equipped with strategies and knowledge necessary for the new normal education.
As preparation for the opening of classes on August 24, teachers were required to accomplish all the lesson plans intended for the first quarter within the month of June and lesson plans intended for the second quarter within the month of July. It is true that teachers are bound to lesson plans. That is already part of their life. They have been doing lesson planning for several years, it should be easy for them to make lots of it. But the lesson plans they are doing now, are different and a little bit harder to accomplish as compared with the previous years. They need to make lesson plans with all necessary information to guide the learners in meaningful learning experience. These lesson plans were later called as Self Instructional Packets or SIPacks.
In making the SIPacks, teachers need to reflect whether the content of the SIPacks can be understood by learners independently or with minimal supervision. Teachers need to devise something to make the lesson easy to learn.
Since the new normal education is literally new not just for teachers but also for those who have the authority, instructions to teachers change from time to time. In addition, due to the eagerness of various school administrations to deliver quality instructional materials, teachers needed to revise their SIPacks several times.
But of course, teachers can always comply with the ever-changing world since flexibility is one of their significant characteristics.
Aside from the SIPacks, teachers are also required to submit their daily accomplishment report as basis for their attendance, table of specification (TOS), periodical test and budget of work. Enrollment is also a challenge for this school year. Teachers need to communicate with parents whether they will enroll their child or not. After that, the parent should accomplish a Leaner’s Enrollment and Survey Form (LESF) which will be validated by the teacher to check if all required data where given.
Due to the abrupt end of previous school year, while accomplishing the necessary things for the incoming school year, teachers are being hunted by the task of school year 2019-2020 such as the submission of Results-Based Performance Management System (RPMS) portfolio and tagging the learners in DepEd’s Learners Information System (LIS) which is just commonly accessible from 11:00PM to 4:00AM due to internet traffic.
The official working hours of teachers mandated by the law is 8 hours. Commonly 8:00AM to 5:00PM excluding the lunch time. But most of the teachers render their service even after 5:00PM to contribute in giving a brighter future to the next generation. They may not have guns or syringes to protect you, but they have a heart willing to love you beyond their duty. Because after all, teacher is the noblest profession.
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The author is Teacher I at Pampanga High School