UNSUNG HEROES
Hilda N. Garcia, PhD
The pandemic has brought a new face to the ‘other’unsung heroes of the nation. These two personalities in the Department of Education made the history as well during these times. During the uncertainty of everything, I personally think that they contributed so much to the success of the mantra that ‘Learning should never stop.’ Here are they:
ICT/ IT experts cum teachers.
The pronouncement of the department during the onset of the pandemic is that learning should never stop. In thinking of the learning delivery modality, one of which is through the Radio Broadcast or TV Broadcast.
Not every space here in our country can be reached by a Wifi or an internet connectivity. As a School Head, I personally have a knowledge on how to prepare a video presentation but doing a series of shoots, having a story board and connecting bits and pieces of the events is a not so easy task.
All equipment were provided, thanks to the immediate response of the department, and lo and behold, some areas in Region III are catered with TV Broadcast while some have the Radio Broadcast for the lessons to be delivered and given to our learners no matter how far flung is the location.
It is not an easy task to come up with a smooth and fine live broadcast where all are watching.
What everyone else are seeing is smooth like a silk but the behind the scenes are unimaginable long hours of work with love and patience for the discovered craft and talent. And pure service.
Another unsung hero.
Learning Resources Evaluators cum teachers.
Learning never really stopped since the highest authority of the department made sure that modules are ready or being prepared for distribution for all learners.
With the call for all people to stay at home and the younger generations being prohibited to go out, the learning will happen in homes. With the help of the home learning facilitators called parents, the mighty Covid 19 virus never derailed the learning progress in every nation.
How does the role of a learning resources evaluator came into being. I am one proof since I am a National Learning Resources Evaluator in Filipino for the past 10 years, the rough edges of a learning material are no longer seen by the learners since its content and language use were meticulously evaluated by LREs.
All pages were seen from left to right, from top to bottom, every single page there is, it passes through the careful eyes of the evaluators.
The review of the material is being carefully done until the wee hours of the night and shall be discussed by a team for final decision if it shall pass or fail.
It was equally challenging during the pandemic since all reviews and team evaluation should be done virtually. I said yes and continue to say yes because of the very basic premise that if these materials will not have a passing rate, what shall be used by our learners? And of course, pure service.
My few cents of advice is that the department should create a specific item or role especially for these functions and/or entertain the idea that during the ranking for promotion of these ‘unsung heroes’they will feel being heroic by not merely looking at the exact words in the certificate of recognition given to them but by seeing beyond the guidelines but by embracing the idea that there’s more to it that meets the eyes. And they deserve it.
They are TEACHERS.
They are Teachers who go an extra mile to bring SMILES to everyone.
*****
The author is Principal III, Dr. Clemente N. Dayrit Sr.
Memorial High School