Peeping and Surviving: Modular Distance Learning amidst Covid-19 Challenges

Many were skeptical on the move of the Department of Education to pursue the opening of the class amidst Covid-19 pandemic but education in the new normal provides options to enable the continuity of learning among learners. These includes online learning, print or digital distance learning, and Television or Radio-Based instructions. In this juncture of Covid-19 pandemic, most parents especially in the remote places where internet connectivity is inaccessible preferred the modular learning system as an alternative to face-to-face classes this school year 2020-2021. This is based on the results of the Learner Enrollment and Survey Forms (LESFs) distributed during the enrollment period. The LESF was the main enrollment tool used to profile the household preferred learning modality and their readiness for distance education amidst this pandemic.

In modular distance learning, access to Self-Learning Modules (SLMs’) has become easy as teachers, in work-from-home and skeletal work arrangements do the reproduction and distribution of the learning kits as instructed by DepEd to better serve their learners in spite of the threat. The fear of contagion has been neutralized through the implementation and strict compliance of health protocols in every school. However, the effectiveness and efficiency of this modality poses another yet several questions and concerns not just for the teachers but to the parents, learners and other stakeholders of the school as well. Although some parents especially those who have high educational backgrounds can do the teaching tasks, teaching competence of most parents and community facilitators are undoubtedly incomparable to teachers. Most learners do their educational tasks diligently and efficiently with teachers but not with their parents. In addition, only few parents can facilitate their children as most of them are working to feed their respective family. Moreover, in some instance, facilitating the learning activities to their children have become an uphill climb to some, if not most, parents especially in dealing with their children’s behavior. Such and more, have had put parents into test and even provided them opportunities to experience and to peep on the teachers’ life inside the classroom.