Amid the Global Pandemic, should an Academic Freeze be implemented?

The global pandemic has changed the way we live our lives. We’ve witnessed
unprecedented declines in our economic actvities, loss of human life and health
protocols enforced by the government has limited our social interactions. One of the
severely affected sectors is Education. At the start of the pandemic, schools closed their
premises as classes were canceled and the academic year put on hold. With an enemy
that moves among us unseen, the government opted for classes to reopen but this time,
in a virtual and modular set up. This issue sparked debate in the online community.
Some believed that this was the best option available considering the restrictions
brought about by the virus while many cried foul against what they felt was an anti-poor
approach, thus the call for an Academic Freeze trended online. As a student myself, I
weighed the pros and cons of this campaign. The implications of an Academic Freeze is
detrimental to an already crumbling Philippine economy, thus even with the onslaught of
Academic Freeze hashtags, I stand with DepEd on rejecting this campaign.

“The moment we stopped the education of students, their capacity to earn is

affected,” this was the statement of DepEd Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio. The
pandemic had a massive impact on world economy, in fact, this was considered a
global crisis. The Philippines, a third world country felt this at it’s very core. As business
establishments stopped their operations leaving thousands of Filipinos unemployed, the
decline in our economic trend is unparalleled. Lossed taxes from business operations
left a patch on government revenue which continued to shrink while there was an
upsurge in demand for financial assistance and medical equipments. If an academic
freeze is indeed implemented, when the pandemic ends, we will not be able to recover
because the lack of graduates will mean lack of human capital- skills and knowledge,
crucial factors of economic production.

In addition, the Department of Education alone currenlty employs more than

800,000 teachers. As of July 2021, the Philippines has an unemployment rate of 6.9
percent (data from the Philippine Statistics Authority). An academic freeze will mean
that these educators will lose their jobs along with the 64 percent of Filipinos who
already lost theirs. This will further decline the government revenue because teachers
are tax paying individuals. With less government revenue, where will the government
get funds for medical equipments? For financial assistance? for rehabilitation efforts?
These are important questions we should ask ourselves first before we call for an
academic freeze because it’s trending.

DepEd calls for an Academic Ease instead of an Academic Freeze. The

education department is not deaf and blind to the difficulties of students in a distance
learning set up through virtual and modular channels. With this, an Academic Ease is
implemented where efforts to make learning less burdensome is employed by schools
without having to compromise the quality of education. For public schools, many opted
for a modular set up, where students are provided with modules they can answer at
home. For most private schools, an online class was implemented where classes were
conducted virtually. This new norm may all seem to be overwhelming at first but it’s
better to do something and make the best out of what we have that just sit and
complain.

I do not in any way invalidate other’s people call for an academic freeze. We
acknowledge the fact that the pandemic has indeed affected people’s financial
capacity. At a time where families would rather use their money for food and medicine
instead of school expenses, I think that we should all view the problem through a
different lens. An academic freeze may share its own relieve to people but what we
have to understand is that, the relief it gives is short term. When you look at the bigger
picture, it offers more problems than the ones it solves. With this, DepEd should
continue to improve this distance learning set up, make ammendments if needed,
provide reforms where needed and continue to work with it’s people. May we never see
Education again as an obstacle we need to get rid of, but as something that will give us
an opportunity to a brighter future. No to Academic Freeze.