CHALLENGES OF TEACHERS AMIDST COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Dr. Narciso I. Ambrocio, Jr.

Based on an article published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, 2020), the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is the worst global health crisis of the recent memory and the greatest challenge we have faced since the last World War. But this pandemic is much more than a health crisis, it's also an unprecedent socio-economic crisis that gravely affects the countries it invades because it can cause devastating social, economic, and political difficulties that can bring complicated and long-term problems to a nation.

To Filipinos whose lives and future depend so much on attaining formal education and whose pride and happiness are also defined by bringing home a diploma and earning a degree, COVID-19 is a serious threat to a lot of dreams. In this context alone, teachers as second parents to these young Filipinos have to pick up their game, shape up, upskill, and face all these challenges while protecting their own health and of that of their families. Teachers are the frontliners in protecting the future of young Filipinos.

According to Jaime Saavedra, Director of Education Global Practice, what teachers should be worried about in this phase of the crisis that might have an immediate impact on children and youth are: (1) Losses in learning (2) Staying engaged (3) Children missing on support programs. Moreover, most countries including the Philippines have very unequal education systems, and these negative impacts will be felt disproportionately by poor children, Saavedra said. When it rains, it pours for them. Clearly, teachers face a myriad of challenges that they have to surmount in order to continue providing precious school children a continuing quality education amidst this pandemic.

Learners may experience losses in learning due to shortened and/or interrupted school year. This is true and interruptions can be expected because of the unpredictability of the spread and virulence of the COVID-19 virus. A lot of factors have an effect to the length and intensity of the infections and its spread across the country such as government policies and community behavior. This unpredictability poses a serious challenge to teachers. Another important concern is the attention and kind of intervention learners with learning difficulty and special educational needs may be receiving in the new normal. How can the non-readers be instructed and how SPED learners be managed well? Another thing is the learning alternatives and online platforms that teachers have to learn in a rather very fast transition period. Upskilling requires time, practice and real-life applications.

The challenge of keeping the learners and their parents engaged poses the risk of an unprecedented dropout rates. Dropouts are always at risk of remaining out of schools based on research, thus schools are doing their best and very proactive when it comes to dropout rate. Distance learning critically reduces physical connection between and among teachers and learners and limits active communication due to several factors including the existing digital divide or differences in the ability and willingness to use internet technology. Keeping learners and parents attracted and interested in attending classes in distance education is a major challenge for teachers that can be addressed through a combination of acute creativity on the part of the teachers and genuine support from the government.

This pandemic also diminishes the access of children to value-added support programs provided by schools such as feeding programs that helps them properly nourished, to outreach programs that provide them additional material and moral support at school and at home, and extracurricular activities that enhance their uniqueness and innate characters and personality.

These are just some of the obvious challenges teachers have to triumph over with in the new normal classroom, but teachers are also the most resourceful, flexible, and generous public servants in the world and for that, even this pandemic cannot erase the determination of these professionals, the noble teachers.

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The author is Head Teacher I at Science Department, Dapdap High School,

DepEd Tarlac Province