Learning In The Time of Pandemic and Disasters

THE DOMINO EFFECT

by: Jovs Villanueva & Mary Rose Jorza

We are now in the middle of the semester under the new mode of learning and things have never been close to easy. The very reason why face-to-face classes were canceled is to ensure the health safety of everyone thus CHED and DepEd adopted various learning delivery options such as blended learning, distance learning, homeschooling, and also limited face-to-face in some areas (depending on the COVID Risk Severity Classification). While it is easy to say that education must not be stopped, it is undeniably quite hard and challenging for several reasons such as the harmful effects it poses to the physical and mental health and the additional expenses for those who only rely on mobile data and internet cafes considering that the pandemic has caused financial constraints to many families.

According to the Department of Health (DOH), although online classes increase the level of safety as students are at home and are not exposed to the virus, they warned that it poses serious risks on the students’ mental and psychological health as it increases their feeling of isolation due to the lack of face-to-face or physical interaction. The DOH warned about the several implications of online classes to both mental and physical illnesses that the students may face such as headache, fatigue, lack of motivation, physical stiffness, and avoidance/procrastination.

The internet connection in the Philippines is another major problem experienced by students. Aside from the constant fluctuation of the speed of the connection, not all can afford to have one. On May 4, a lawmaker Albay Representative Joey Salceda cited data during his interview on Dobol B, showing that there is only 17% of Filipino students who have internet access at home while there are only 3.74% who owns cellular phones that can connect to the internet but only 5% of them has an internet connection stable enough for online learning.

Students’ outcry and expression of distress are often seen in social media, reflected in trending hashtags such as #AcademicFreezeNow to amplify their call to the government about their struggles to comply with online learning. Teachers are also put in a very difficult situation and even before the start of classes, they have taken challenging paths to continue providing students their educational needs. While the agenda behind the academic freeze is to cater to the unequal access to education, when pushed forward will have its fair share of negative impacts especially for those who work in private institutions. Problems regarding online learning continue to arise. 

With the onslaught of successive typhoons, a large number of families in some parts of Luzon are greatly affected. The havoc by the typhoons Rolly and Ulysses resulting in the loss of lives, homes, and livelihood brought another torment to the nation and that includes the education of the youth which is already at stake in its current situation caused by the pandemic. While others are privileged to comply with their academic requirements, some students who are left behind and have nothing to begin with now. On November 16, 2020 the #NationalAcadBreak trends on Twitter, opinions not only by the students who are affected by the typhoons but also those who see that it is pointless and impractical at this moment for the victims to continue schooling were expressed. Aside from that, a petition from the faculty members from various units of University of the Philippines- Diliman call out to freeze the academic year with the hashtags #EndtheSem and #MassPromotionNow where as of November 16, 2020 a total of 228 members of the UP faculty signed the said petition.

Learning should not just be an advantage for those who can afford it. It should not just be an echo that only reaches those individuals who can keep up because they are in favorable situations. At this point, we are experiencing the domino effect of prior decisions that were not entirely effective. Had this health crisis been addressed with quick preventive actions, there would be no need to clamor for halting another school-year because the possibility that schools could reopen will be then highly considered just like in other countries who immediately utilized testing and contact tracing to control the outbreak. And typhoons are a phenomenon that this country constantly experiences, by now, should not we have had concrete disaster and risk management plans and macro actions that contribute to impeding the climate crisis? Results say otherwise. We are victims of circumstances that could have been prevented and mitigated by those who were put in position to do so.

Others may have learned a lot even in an online setting and if you are one of them, that is great to hear. But that should not be a reason for you to turn a blind eye to those who are not as privileged as you are. Let us ponder how we could possibly help others who are struggling. It is as simple as checking on these people, contributing financial help if we can and most importantly, advocating for an education where no one is left behind.

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