A necessity for education

Gloria P. Nucom

THE Department of Education, in a recent recommendation, maintained that physical or face-to-face classes “remain a necessity for education”, even as the planned pilot implementation of limited face-to-face classes this month has been put on hold.

The agency cited the social aspect of learning where students are able to interact with their teachers and classmates, which admittedly cannot be fully replaced by distance learning modalities.

The DepEd thus said that preparations are still in place for the possible conduct of in-person classes in COVID-low risk areas once approved by the government.

Under the current learning set-up, the DepEd said the skills of students for “selflearning is uneven”.

It also noted that household resources to assist children in the learning process are also uneven, being affected by various factors including household income, education of household members, access to Internet, and number of children in the household needing to be assisted, among others.

DepEd said that some students find it difficult “to learn by themselves” without more consistent instructional guidance by teachers. This will result in instructional support to be left behind.

DepEd officials said the department is currently preparing for the possibility of physical classes by identifying schools and regions that will participate in the implementation concerning the required health and safety standards set by the IATF (InterAgency Task Force).

The time devoted for the learning process, without direct monitoring by teachers, vary across students and households, with remote learning in place

Physical classes, even on an intermittent schedule, will “enable greater opportunities” for teachers to check on the students’ learning progress and provide needed instructional supervision and interventions, if needed.

The author is Teacher

--oOo-

III at Caduang Tete Elementary School, Macabebe,

Pampanga