Education is a Privilege
The Switch to Online Learning in Response to Education in the Philippines During Covid-19
DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones once said a few months ago, “Education must continue even in times of crisis, whether it may be a calamity, disaster, emergency, quarantine, or even war,”. However, receiving education in our country is often deemed as a privilege. Nine out of ten Filipino children are out-of-school, mainly due to the fact that their parents cannot afford to. If you add up all the nine-out-of-tens throughout the whole country, you would get almost 3.6 million out of school youth.
3.6 million children who are denied their right to an education. The occurrence of this pandemic only prompted the numbers to go significantly higher. The Department of Education proposed that classes in Preschool through High School shall begin in August, whether it be via online or physical attendance with health protocol. However, the considerably large decline in our economy has placed a substantial amount of people in the labor force at risk, with high chances of salary reduction and getting laid off. Because of this, many parents decided to allocate their budgets to providing food and basic necessities and postpone the enrollment of their children in the following academic year. This can only mean that there will definitely be more out of school youth in the coming years.
Going back to the statement of Sec. Briones regarding receiving education in spite of given circumstances, DepEd proposed the shift to online learning. This intensifies the idea of education being a privilege, especially in time of this pandemic. Online learning would require access to stable internet connection, efficient gadgets, and a proper workspace.
According to NTC, only 67% of the country has access to internet connection in the comfort of their own homes. On top of that, many low income households do not have a working laptop or computer. Some are lucky enough to own smartphones at most, while many still cannot afford to upgrade their own technology. DepEd responded to this concern by saying they will be able to provide printed learning materials for students who have no access to gadgets and internet connection. This can be quite a head scratcher, considering there are many communities out there that do not even receive relief goods from the government, what more retrieval of learning materials?
Allow me to illustrate the concept of online learning in the perspective of two types of Filipino students. Somewhere out there is a little boy who lives in an air-conditioned home, connected to a stable internet provider. His parents bought him his own laptop to use for school, and he does his work within the comfort of his own bedroom. On the other hand, there is another little boy who lives in a fan-ventilated home, who needs to visit their nearby sari-sari store to reload his prepaid access to the internet on his smartphone. His parents are making ends meet to save up extra money to buy him a gadget to use for school, and he does his work perched up against a wall in their home that can pick up the fastest signal.
Although the living conditions and resources of both students are indeed far from one another, there is one thing similar between the two of them — they are not learning. The sudden switch to online mediums teaches them to prioritize accomplishing work on time rather than prioritizing full comprehension of their lessons. Their attention spans and own capacity to understand online lectures and self study can only do them a certain amount of justice. Not all learners can be independent learners, and that is the reality DepEd has to face.
There is absolutely no doubt that the implementation of online learning is solely experimental. Its efficiency and effectiveness are all up in the air for now, since this is the first time in history wherein the education sector has decided to make a huge change in the way things run. At a time like this, everyone is trying to find solace in their own interpretations of new normalcy.
The concept of education being deemed as a privilege is given a whole deeper meaning in the time of this pandemic. Students have very limited options, and you can either afford to continue your education or not. The first and foremost priority of everyone right now is recovering from Covid-19 and avoiding the risk of our health. I personally believe that a freeze in classes will do more holistic justice for everyone. Learning is subjective and is definitely not limited to the help of school and academics. Now more than ever, no student should be left behind.
References
https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/03/18/deped-launches-online-platform-to-support-distance-learning/
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/262503-things-to-know-department-education-distance-learning
https://www.rappler.com/nation/262212-deped-says-no-need-buy-gadgets-printed-materials-will-be-given
Monique Cruz is an 18-year old Senior High School student from the Philippines, and Content Editor to the Of The People publication. If you’d like to have your work featured in our platform (whether visual or text), you may send in a submission to our email here.
