Distance Learning: Black and White with Nothing in Between

The author is Teacher III at Potrero Elementary School Raquel P. Sampang - Bacolor South District

In these trying times where humanity is faced of global crises, education has taken a sharp turn as it was subject to an immense disruption. From the traditional face-toface learning system, we were called to adjust to the present condition and adopt distance learning. In our belief for education as the foundation of civilization and the cornerstone for social progress, we could not really dare decline its acceleration, yet we cannot also compromise our safety, hence the resort. Taking into account what had transpired since the transition, both my co-teachers and students will mostly agree with me if I say that the new classroom setting, which has a stark difference to the classroom environment we all got used to prior to this pandemic, poses a great challenge to each side of the fence, fueling the struggle of each party concerning establishing connection and building a sense of community for learning. Distance learning, as the name implies, equates to the lack of interaction in person during classes. This, in itself, caused a rift between us educators and students as it diminished human contact and made it hard for us teachers to communicate to our students and for the students themselves to reach out to us in turn. While I do not entirely disregard how distance learning, to some extent, allowed us to explore our creativity in devising ways to offer quality education to the students in spite of the tumult the pandemic had caused, compared to the opportunities of greater height had we have the traditional face-to-face education, distance learning system is a downer and beyond. It robbed us the ability to ensure that our students are actually learning, and worse, it hindered us to compartmentalize our professional responsibilities and personal lives and have them mix up as a consequence.