It’s ‘all systems go’ for school opening

Finally! More than 50,000 schools nationwide will open their doors today, Aug. 22, 2022 — a welcome step to normalcy after the two-year disruption caused by the global pandemic, which saw both teachers and students (and their parents) enduring the highs and lows of online learning.

The school opening today also marks a “milestone” as the Philippines is among the last countries in the world to return to face-to-face learning. This early, education experts have already warned of the impending consequences brought about by the prolonged online delivery of education, more so if this continues this new academic year. This is also perhaps the reason why the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has never backed down on the need for face-to-face classes, reinforced further by the belief of Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte that irreversible — and irreparable — damage may be inflicted on students who have been “out” of the classroom for so long.

Even during pre-pandemic times and compared with our neighbors, Filipino students have lagged in terms of writing and reading, understanding science and math subjects, and comprehending complex academic problems. How much more now? Post-pandemic, we may sadly see our country at the bottom of the barrel.

But all is not lost. There is still hope. For one, the school opening today is one such solution to stop the slide to academic disaster. The Department of Education (DepEd) was buoyant, when spokesperson Michael Poa said that it’s “all systems go for the opening of classes.”

Poa mentioned that a total of 24,175 (46 percent) public and private schools nationwide will implement five-day, face-to-face classes, while 29,721 (51.8 percent) of the schools will implement a blended learning modality. The remaining 1,004 schools or 1.29 percent will still conduct distance learning. He also noted the “healthy” enrollment numbers, as the current total enrollment in the basic education level is 27 million students, which is 96 percent of DepEd’s target of 28.6 million.

Presently, and pending no major disruptions, schools are given the options of in-person, blended, or full-distance learning until only Oct. 31. After that, all enrolled students will be required to attend face-to-face classes.

“Students are all required to go to school and the mandate is really to eventually go face-to-face. Everybody who’s enrolled should abide by this (DepEd) order, parents are also encouraged to ensure that their students go to school. Again, we’re trying to do educational recovery,” said DepEd Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III.

The optimism of DepEd is laudable but it should be realistic that problems and challenges still hound the education system. Complaints of all kinds will be heard down to the last minute of the school opening day. Complaints will come from all sources, even amplified on social media, and the DepEd must be ready to address those concerns so as not to further agitate the anxious public, especially the parents who are sending their kids off to school, still wary of the Covid variants infecting the vulnerable.

The DepEd has announced that for Academic Year 2022-2023 for public schools, there will be 203 days. May day one of 203 days be an auspicious day for the “Renaissance” of learning in the country. We have to wish that DepEd, as well as thousands of its personnel and teachers, can make this day a memorable one for the new students — memorable for the right reasons.