BCES BE-LCP: Transcending from the old normal to the new normal
Covid-19 health crisis impacts the lives of all the people globally regardless of race, ethnicity, and social hierarchy -no exemption. Of all the prevailing problems that the world is facing today, Covid-19 tops among the threats of our health security. It paralyzes almost all of the foremost economic businesses and enterprises due to regional restrictions and to the fear of its rapid proliferation among individuals. Everyone is challenged financially, physically, emotionally, and mentally as adverse effects of this pandemic.
Among all the government departments, education sector is one of the most vulnerable of the drastic aftermaths of this infection for it hinders the children and teachers’ mobility toward face-to-face learning modality. Despite of this, the education department continues to strive hard to make learning possible without compromising the health of the children, teachers, staff and stakeholders, ensuring that every teacher is empowered with new teaching strategies in the new normal environment. In the past few weeks, teachers have undergone webinars initiated by local and international organizations in order to cultivate their e-teaching skills and also to introduce diverse methods of online teaching in response to the call of this pandemic.
With regard to coping strategies, teachers are always adoptive and dynamic, flexible and resilient. They exhaust themselves in order to align their abilities, skills and competencies to what are necessary and are expected for them to manifest. Teachers who are not formally oriented with e-learning modalities were capacitated through online workshops for them to cope with the new standards of teaching. However, with the ideas and methodologies introduce by one department, we cannot neglect the fact that things are not the same as what they were before.
Out of the various challenges which had arose concerning the new mode of learning, financial constraints have always been the top factor which hinders teachers, students, and parents to fully participate in these new normal endeavors. In spite of this unprecedented health catastrophe, our educators remain firm in upholding their vision, mission, goals and objectives and continue to stand with vigor and pride against these unseen enemies just to ensure that no child will be left behind.
The Philippine educational system is faced with unprecedented challenges brought by the outbreak of COVID-19 which has changed the entire educational landscape. Despite our country’s present situation, “education must continue” as strongly pronounced by our DepEd Secretary of Education, Leonor Magtulis-Briones. With the commitment and response to value health, safety and well-being of all learners, teachers, personnel and stakeholders, Butuan Central Elementary School, thus, crafted its contextualized basic education learning continuity plan following the health protocols and mandates set by the government.
Figure 1 below shows the LCP Framework which presents the school’s journey in institutionalizing various tasks and expected outputs amidst the threats brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. This contextualized learning continuity plan serves as the blueprint for all education stakeholders to draw support and take actions to ensure continuity of implementation of all programs activities and projects set forth by the department. It elucidates the allegiance of BCES in strong partnership with its education stakeholders in branding continuity for education in school without compromising the health, safety and well-being of every teacher, learner, parent, school personnel and every stakeholder. The implementation of BCES Contextualized Basic Education-Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP) is guided with the department’s vision, mission, goals and objectives; an incorporation of various initiatives and activities shifting from the old normal to the “new normal” which are all work in progress to effectively address the current education reforms brought by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The LCP Framework has adopted DepEd Caraga’s BE-LCP six key dimensions namely: safe operations, focus on learning, hiniusang pag-alagad para sa Edukalidad, reaching the marginalized, well-being and protection, and education and financing. Each has its own essential areas and corresponding contextualized activities to focus on its operationalization for SY 2020-2021 in the new normal.
As the acronym of the school stands, Branding Continuity for Education in School or BCES revolves the school’s brand in providing basic education services to its clienteles which are accessible, relevant, responsive, and liberating education in the midst of the pandemic. The school caters three different modalities namely: pure online, pure modular and blended (combination of online and modular). BCES teachers underwent upskilling and reskilling in terms of content and pedagogies, teaching skills and competencies in order to ensure the delivery of quality teaching and learning. ###
