Vista, Kristine Gianne B.

BSBA-MKT 1B

NSTP REQUIREMENT
Just give your thought and opinion on the following community issues:
1. Lifting of ECQ, is it good or bad decision of the government? Why?

As much as I want things to go back to normal and while the government is moving towards a
calibrated lifting of Enhanced Community Quarantine, people will surely go all crazy. The prolonged
ECQ, now on its third extension is a reflection of government’s failure in mass testing, contact tracing,
isolation and treatment more than anything else. Aside from keeping people out of work, our food
supplies now are limited. I understand that it is necessary for people to go to work, but I also know that
less than one percent of the Philippine population has been tested. Even announcing GCQ won’t be of
any help, by granting this new freedom, it only gives false hope that things are going back to normal
when in fact we are nowhere near flattening the curve. It’s a good decision though but we cannot be
too complacent.

2. Think of important issues that the President did not include in his speech? Why?

I think some of it includes the education system here in the Philippines now that we are
experiencing pandemic and causes difficulties when it comes to providing learning. We all know that
we have the slowest internet connection among other countries and a lot of people find it hard to
provide their own. Also, those businesses that went out of operation and suddenly drops their income.

3. Are you in favour on the proposed online education? Why?

I think it is good but not good enough. Multimedia can help students to learn quickly and easier
to remember knowledge. But in some perspective, it just can’t replace traditional classes. Basically,
online education cannot provide many of the social interactions that students have at school. Online
classes aren’t as effective as in-person classes but they are certainly better than no classes at all.
However, like all education, there are good ones and bad ones. We, students might do worse in the
online setting and this is particularly true for students with weaker academic backgrounds. Online
classes provide us time wherein we don’t have to travel anywhere to study, we can simply log in with
comfort of our own home. Students who struggle in classroom classes are likely to struggle even more
online. Teachers will need to consider the needs of less-engaged students and work to engage them.
And we are also facing several factors of difficulties such as having slow internet connection and some
of the students find it hard to provide one. However, school is school, it’s what you learn that counts
but not all learning experiences are equal.

4. What have you learned in this pandemic?

Whatever decisions we make these days, big or small, it is subject to health considerations. You
can’t behave or live your life like you used to. We need to remind ourselves constantly that we now
live in a world with new social protocols. Social distancing will be hard for us because we knew that we
love to socialize. Almost every night, it became potentially dangerous and threatening. Just a month
ago, life seemed to be so different. Now everything seems bleak and our lives are not only on hold as
we stay at home to save ourselves and others from infection. Many things that we used to rely on are
now uncertain. In sort of realization, what is threatening to kill us may in fact make us better people. I
am sure that we can help more people survive this. We can change the world into something better for
our environment and inhabitants.