The learning process doesn’t begin and end in schools. In fact, life itself is an endless cycle of learning and application. For instance, infants learn to walk and talk in the comfort of their homes even before they enroll in preschool. Therefore, we must expand the learning grounds of students starting from the schools to their communities and, eventually, to anywhere they go. This way, they would have an infinite amount of learning opportunities, and they would grow drastically.
To achieve this, the learning process of the students must be restored to where it began – in their homes.
In line with this goal, the Department of Education implements Home Visitations every Academic Year in order to ensure that the students’ learning continues outside the school by intensifying the engagement of parents and other family members in the students’ learning process. Moreover, it aims to check on the students who have poor school records regarding class attendance and academic standing. Depending on the case, home visitation gives parents feedback about how the students perform in school or why they struggle to attend their classes. Since the student-to-teacher ratio has a massive difference, schools prioritize the population mentioned above in monitoring and assessment. If deemed necessary, teachers also allot extra time and effort to give light to the lessons the students are struggling with. Some even provide additional supplementary learning materials to encourage students to keep on studying.
Since the Academic Year 2009-2010, home visitation has yielded positive results and feedback from both parents and students. A major benefit from this is increased parental involvement in the students’ learning process. This way, supervised education has been established in many homes, which is advantageous for all learners, especially those who struggle at school. Consequently, it diminishes the rate of absences of each student and decreases the overall number of absentees. Also, the academic performance of the home-visited students significantly increases since their education is being focused at in their own homes. Another benefit is that students learn to communicate with different types of people who can help them expand their knowledge on specific topics. This helps them become constant learners even after school hours since they engage in their surroundings in search of literacy. And with this, they can live life as an everlasting cycle of learning and application.
In addition, home visitation became a key to bridging the gap between the schools and the students when the pandemic restricted physical meetings. Although it became more limited because of safety protocols, teachers continued this movement and home visitation endured. Despite the challenges brought by the inevitable shift to new learning modalities, there is no significant increase in the dropout rate because of the connection established through home visitations. Modules were distributed and retrieved to and from those who could not afford school. Even with extra challenges in health and communication, the hands of education continued to shed light to many because of home visitations.
This proves that we have been bridging the gap, and we can always continue to do so. To ensure that no students are being left behind, we must expand the learning ground and provide more learning opportunities.
REFERENCES:
- https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/sunstar-pampanga/20150517/281608124013670
- http://www.deped-aurora.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2021nummemo_029.pdf
- https://www.depedtambayanph.net/2019/07/call-parent-and-home-visit-forms.html
- https://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/DM_s2009_145.pdf
By: Renz Oliver N. Alfanta
