Deped chief: Even in the time of Delta, there is love. And there is education

‘WE are as ready as can be!” Thus declared Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones after 24,603,822 million learners returned to schools on Monday for the start of School Year (SY) 2021-2022.

Briones said that the number of learners is 93.4 percent of last year’s enrollment and that they expect “even more” to enlist for late enrollment. The Deped will still accept late enrollees until September 30, 2021.

In an online forum, Briones, when sought for reaction by the Businessmirror on the claim of a teachers’ group that Deped is not yet ready for the opening of classes, responded: “What is the state of readiness? When is one ready for whatever activity there is? It’s like asking, are you ready to get married? You are already getting married tomorrow but you are still asking yourself, are you ready? We are as ready as can be!”

In her message during the Oplan Balik Eskwela (OBE) 2021 National School Opening Day Program, she recalled that last year, she declared “victory” with the opening of classes on October 5, 2020.

“Today, September 13, 2021, Deped celebrates with great joy its success in opening classes for the second year in the time of Covid. We opened classes last year. We successfully ended them. Now we are opening another school year. Isn’t that success worthy of celebration?” she asked.

Briones noted that when victory was declared over Covid-19 last year, some people got angry.

“How can one declare victory in the time of Covid-19? For them, it was the worst time to feel victorious. In October 2020, the fourth quarter of the year, the gross domestic product [GDP] plummeted to -8.3 percent and further went down to -9.5 percent for full-year 2020,” she added.

Some 452 private schools informed Deped that they were postponing the reopening of their schools. In the meantime, learners from private schools migrated to public schools in the wake of a similar migration of private school teachers.

In five months’ time, the Learning Continuity Plan had to be crafted. Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCS) had to be reduced from over 15,000 to 5,000. Modules had to be developed.

In addition to Covid-19, Briones said that Deped had to deal with the impacts of nature’s rage—intermittent rumbles from Taal Volcano and typhoons with accompanying floods that swept away printed modules.

“Nonetheless, we opened the school year in the midst of debates over printed versus digital learning material. The call to continue education triumphed over calls for lockdowns and closures.”

She recognized that the amount of effort and hard work the entire department exerted to keep schools cannot be quantified, noting that technical staff lived in bubble arrangements.

“We had to deal with infections, frequent swabs, isolation, and vaccinations. We had to deal with fear and death. We lost drivers, accountants, and clerks as we continued rendering timely and efficient service to our teachers and staff,” she said.

Smell of success

BRIONES reiterated that SY 2020-2021 had indeed ended in victory.

The Deped’s tentative graduation figures indicated that 98.13 percent or 2,055,499 of 2,115,040 Grade 6 learners made it; Grade 10 learners with 96.9 percent or 1,881,817 out of 1,940,578 completed their studies; Grade 11 learners made it at 97.2 percent or 1,489,164 of 1,531,718.

“As expected, criticism poured in, and ‘failures’ were pointed out. These are part of the process in the journey to victory and success. A famous personality has commented that ‘if you have no critics, you’ll likely have no success.’ In the words of Albert Einstein, ‘failure is success in progress.’”

Briones said: “Today, we are opening the School Year 20212022 as we celebrate last year’s victory. The challenges we are facing now are even tougher than those we battled last year.”

She recalled that President Duterte approved the conduct of a pilot study on face-to-face sessions in a limited number of schools last January.

“His decision was supported unanimously by the entire Cabinet. Unfortunately, the UK variant of Covid-19 entered the country, and the President suspended the implementation of his decision,” she said adding, “On the health front, we are contending with the Delta variant which is considered more deadly than all other Covid-19 variants. The ordinary citizen cowers in fear at the prospect of still another variant entering the country.” Even in the time of Covid, with all its horrors terrors, she stressed, there is love.

“Yes, even in the time of evil, there is always hope, as stated by Arwen in Lord of the Rings. Even in the time of the Delta variant, there is love. And there is education. Let our classes begin!”