Getting Back Up Again

By: Alyssa Marie E. Adran

The onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a global domino effect.

Inevitably, workplaces, offices, and schools had to be shut down temporarily to
control the transmission of the deadly disease.
In the Philippines, as
COVID cases increased in the National Capital Region (NCR) and subsequent local
transmissions were reported on the first months of 2020, the Malacañang Palace
released Presidential Proclamation No. 922 on March 8, 2020 declaring “A State of
Public Health Emergency” throughout the country. Alongside this statement, the
president suspended the classes in Metro Manila wherein other regions and
provinces soon followed suit. In Bataan, through Executive Order No. 24, Governor
Albert S. Garcia indefinitely suspended classes in all levels, public and private.
According to the World Bank, the schooling of approximately 1.6 billion
students from over 150 countries were disrupted. The immediate response of
education sectors is the implementation of remote learning. Most countries with good
internet connectivity like the USA, Australia, Denmark, and South Korea flawlessly
transitioned to virtual classes while some utilized broadcast instruction. However,
majority of teachers from these countries commented on students’ disengagement
which led to learning less and less.
If situations like these from high-tech countries arose, how about developing
countries such as the Philippines which used mixed-method but mostly modular
distance learning as the norm for its 27.7 million learners?
Even before the pandemic, the country has gained its reputation as one of the
lowest performing in terms of the academe. Compounded by the challenges of
remote learning, more students fell further behind. Learning poverty pre-pandemic
was already prevalent, how about now that learners are bound in their homes with
limited access to education and guidance? Forget about Math and Science because
2019 data revealed that 90.9 percent of Filipino children are “unable to read and
understand a simple passage by age 10.”
Various assessment tools are being employed to gather data on student
learning. Reading assessment tools like the Early Grade Reading Assessment or
EGRA (for Grades 1-3) and Philippine Informal Reading Inventory or Phil-IRI for
Grades 4-6 are “used to measure and describe students’ reading performance” while
the Project All-Numerates (PAN) evaluates pupils’ numeracy and Math Skills.
National and Regional Achievements Tests were also conducted in 2022 to assess if
students achieved the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELC) set by DepEd
during the pandemic.
In Samal South Elementary School (SSES), a medium-sized public
elementary school in the District of Samal, Phil-IRI results from pre-pandemic school
years showed the non-existence of non-readers and most were already either in the
Instructional and Independent level. However, in SY 2021-2022, only a few were
able to reach independence in reading. EGRA, on the other hand, also revealed that
most students only have mastery on basic components such as letter and sound
recognition and less than half of the learners achieved mastery on word and
sentence readings and a very select few were able to spell from dictation. PAN data
for SY 2022-2023 indicates that out of 487 students, 30% (147) are non-numerates,
59% (286) are nearly numerates, and only 11% (54) are numerates. Division
achievement results of Grade 3 and Grade 6 pupils, nevertheless, demonstrated
favorable percentages.
Upon the resumption of the full-blown face-to-face classes, SSES teachers
immediately felt the learning losses that the pandemic has brought upon the
learners. Even with DepEd trimming down its curriculum, it was still challenging to
bridge the gap, having to teach grade-level competencies when they haven’t even
achieved mastery from their previous year’s skill set. In consideration as well is the
allowance for learners to adjust as they slowly return to normalcy.
The school has already anticipated this demanding school year and has
prepared its lineup of intervention programs to address learning loss. Various school-
wide and classroom-based activities headed by subject coordinators are put up and
are monthly monitored. After-classes remediation and double effort are also provided
for those who lag. Teachers attend upskilling and reskilling seminars and regularly
conduct SLAC sessions. SSES also requests the assistance and the continuous
support of parents and the community in overcoming this challenge and we believe
that with determination and patience, “Muling Susulong ang SSES!”