DepEd reaches out further with the LSA

Emerito C. Nicdao

The Department of Education remains steady in its non-negotiable commitment to continue basic education amidst the pandemic. Teachers together with school leader hold on to the belief of providing relevant and responsive education amidst limited resources. Lesson delivery becomes different and challenging where distance learning poses questions on the acquisition of the most essential learning competencies. It can be recalled that a considerable amount of competencies were reduced as a result of the K to 12 curriculum review of DepEd. Different learning delivery modalities are up to schools to choose from with due consideration on the context and needs of the learners.

After weeks of opening the School Year 2020-2021, teachers and learners are still finding ways to cope with the new way of learning the lessons. Parent are expected to get the weeklong lessons from school and return these a week after being accomplished by their children. Teachers are getting used to receiving learners’ output at the end of each week. Assessment of learning has been modified focussing on the performance tasks of students. The students do not have the usual periodical test at the end of the quarter. Hence, it is very important that teachers are able to get and give feedbacks to monitor the progress of learners. With this, the Department supports the teachers by allowing the hiring of Learner Support Aides(LSA).

As the teachers and the DepEd personnel tackle additional tasks, challenges, and new expectations in the new normal, the Basic Education- Learning Continuity Plan (BELCP) necessitates the complementary broader roles of parents, guardians, and other household partners and members of the community to support the learning process of the students at home. As such, the need for additional human resource at the school level becomes imperative. This need is foreseen in schools whose majority of the learners have any, if not all, of the following conditions or situations:

1.Learners who cannot manage independent learning, including learners with disabilities and special learning needs;

2.Learners who do not have a household member of any responsible adult available to provide instructional support and facilitate distance learning modalities; and

3.Household with parents and or guardians with full time jobs who may not be able to monitor and guide the child’s learning at home.

The schools are tasked to recommend and request for the service of the learner support aides while the Division Office is expected to determine and assess applicants for the position. The details on the hiring of the LSA is explained in the DepEd Order No. 32, series 2020. Indeed, this shows that the Department of Education is making education works for every Filipino amidst the crisis.

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The author is Education Program Supervisor -1, MAPEH