HOW DAILY LIFE AND EDUCATION CHANGED DURING PANDEMIC

Maria Corazon T. Sagum

Every Sunday we usually attend mass with the family and have a lunch/dinner out after the mass. During weekdays, we are at work from 8:00 in the morning until 5:00 in the afternoon and students spend their scheduled hours in school. Saturday is a market day, filling up the grocery cabinets to be used for the coming week and students study for their examinations and doing their respective assignments and homework. Sometimes, weekends are spent with other relatives and friends on a special occasion and college students usually spend weekends finishing their case studies, research work and thesis. These activities and more suddenly changed because of this pandemic. We do often wash our hands but do not usually bring with us alcohol or sanitizer and have to spray once we held a thing. The most uncommon of which is the wearing of face mask and face shield as we go outside of our home at all times. Indeed, it is an awkward thing but it is a requirement to prevent the spread of COVID-19 disease and for the safety and protection of everybody. Also, the so-called no face to face learning had greatly affected the whole education sector wherein they have to adopt to the online distance learning and the modular distance learning. It is a very tough job for the education community as well as to the parents and guardians of the students. It is also very difficult to the students who were used to be in a classroom setting. There are lessons that they could not understand though explained thru online by their teachers. Also, modular distance learning is a method wherein the parents usually discusses the lessons to their children with the assistance of the teachers and usually meet up with the students 2-3 times in a week thru online.

On the other hand, our front liners especially the medical front liners wore suits in the hospital that they are no longer recognizable and are at high risk of being infected with the disease. Some of them cannot even touch and see their loved-ones in person because of their fear that they might get infected. Swab tests are ready and is a method wherein a person could be considered safe when tested negative. These situations are a few of the usual daily routine that were hampered because of the pandemic.

Sadly, the continuous increase in the number of positive patients is very alarming. Yet we have to continue with our daily lives and our usual daily routine both at work and at the online and modular distance learning adopted by the Department of Education taking into consideration all the necessary precautions in following the protocols in the NEW NORMAL setting during this pandemic.

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The author is Administrative Aide VI at Schools Division of Angeles City