"Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Education in the Philippines"

The COVID-19 pandemic, which started in Wuhan, China, and nearly infected every
country in the world. This pandemic has a significant impact here in the Philippines,
particularly when it comes to the education of the youth. It makes the condition of
teachers and students challenging. In order to restrict the dissemination of COVID 19,
several countries around the world have decided to close down temporarily to
educational institutions. How about the children who wants to learn? How can they
learn if they are not allowed to go outside? And how about the parents who are
incapable of giving financial needs to their kids in terms of education?

The DOH and DepEd will follow a wide variety of learning options, such as, but not
limited to, face-to-face, blended learning, distance learning, home-school and other
implementation approaches. As we continue to confront the issues brought about by
the pandemic, The Department of Education (DepEd) are addressing challenges in the
basic education through the Learning Continuity Plan (LCP). The LPC is the answer
for the students who are incapable of financial for their Online Classes, by providing
hard copies of modules for the students. LPC and the Online Classes is the major
response of the DepEd and their commitment in ensuring the health, safety, and well-
being of the learners and teachers.

Implementing this would raise challenges for students who do not have a good
internet connection, devices and unreliable signals, plus students who live far away
from their schools. Modular students often have a tough time understanding self-
learning modules, as they don't have anyone to support them in their classes,
especially when their families have a difficult situation. In comparison, parents have
trouble offering educational needs to their children, such as smart phones, laptop or
internet access, since access to the internet is simpler for them.

There is a clear gap between the rich and the poor underneath the statistics. Many
poor teachers and students cannot afford to buy online learning equipment. While the
rich can provide unlimited access to the Internet, the poor cannot afford to pay for
mobile data packets. And while some students can afford to study in their own homes,
others risk themselves simply to avoid being left behind in their education. For
instance, in order to find a stronger internet connection for some students, they need to
climb the roof of their house or trees or mountains and the average learning loss is
expected for students. This is why over 6 million opted last year for the academic year
2020 not to enroll. However, not only students are suffering, but more than 400,000
teachers lost their jobs nationwide after lock-down due to the closure of private
schools.
In conclusion, Education here in Philippines is heavily impacted areas of Covid-19
Pandemic, where COVID-19 infections are still increasing, this essay presented some
of the new normal conditions in the school setting. The LPC or Learning Continuity
Plan and the Online Classes were the DepEd’s response to ensure health and safety of
learners and teachers from Covid-19. However, some of the challenges and issues
were raised like many people cannot have access in internet, and they have some
difficult time understanding their modules. And a lot of students were not enrolled in
this school year and a lot of teachers lost their jobs. While recommending a number of
approaches to the new normal. Schools at all levels must therefore address these
concerns and carefully evaluate the plans and procedures for implementing the new
normal. Collaboration is the most important factor in these tough days. We should
help to shape the post COVID-19 education, to progress towards a new normal. The
challenge here is how to provide and deliver quality education in unprecedented
circumstances, such as the COVID 19 pandemic, and how ready we are to face
another future crisis.