COVID-19 pandemic has had huge disruptive effects on our normal lives of people in all walks of life. For all of us it has been traumatizing seeing cases rise day by day. People started to shut doors for others and it made a huge difference in our daily lives. In education system most parents fear the safety of their children. On the other hand, schools, both teaching and non- teaching personnel experienced the same agony because of this global pandemic. The impact of closed schools and children stuck at home with little or no access to learning, the effect has been generally devastating.
Teachers are overwhelmed with different technical problems, internet connectivity problems, in a snap of a finger they are diverted into using laptops and other gadgets in order to bridge the gap in our educational system. They tried different platforms to reach students and parents. Good for the more affluent because they can afford the cost of technology. Experts estimate that a whole year of learning could be lost, to many students, in all levels, meaning a whole cohort of students could be permanently lagging behind in their learning because the pace under the New Normal has been understandably very slow indeed.
However, the good news is: crisis and the response to it has exposed weaknesses in educational systems, while creating opportunities to reshape school education to a new paradigm that is more resilient and robust. It became the wake-up call to our country to strive for advancement when it comes to our education. Other countries diverted smoothly since they have existing distant learning plan not like our country. We opted to have the traditional way, wherein teaching and learning takes place in school only.
This pandemic is not the first, nor will it be the last, to impact our city, our province, our country and all global schools. Such crises are becoming increasingly likely with climate change, technological disruptions and globalized connectivity. The solution lies in neither a top-down approach from policymakers, reactive changes to teacher preparation and in-service training, nor temporary makeshift arrangements by under-resourced principals like us, and in many public schools and including hundreds of teachers.
Let us admit that the world will never be the same again. Here is also an opportunity to address the rigidities in the education system of many models here and even abroad, that were exposed by the pandemic as a major part of our learning experience.
By: Marvin S. Santiago|Teacher II |BNHS TLE Department|Balanga City, Bataan
