As the first month of classes comes to an end, the Department of Education assured that adjustments towards calibration of learning delivery processes will be undertaken in the coming quarters.
“We are now, a few weeks into the school year and as you can see, it is a combination of learning continuity and challenges given a new way that we are delivering education,” DepEd Undersecretary and Chief of Staff Atty. Nepomuceno Malaluan said during a recent virtual press briefing.
Classes for School Year (SY) 2020-2021 officially started in public schools nationwide last Oct. 5. In lieu of face-to-face classes, DepEd is employing multiple learning delivery modalities under a distance and blended learning approach. “We continue to make a calibration in relation to learning delivery at this time,” Malaluan said.
Malaluan said that meetings among members of the DepEd Executive Committee and the DepEd Management Committee are regularly held. “We had our initial sharing of observations of the recent weeks of the delivery of learning under the Learning Continuity Plan and there are continuing issues that we are deliberating towards calibration with respect to modules, learning resources,” he added.
In the succeeding meetings, Malaluan said that the DepEd ExeCom and ManCom will, at some point, discuss the issue of assessment as the field operationalizes learning continuity. “These are all towards, as I mentioned, making a calibration for succeeding quarters, particularly the second, third, and fourth quarters of the year,” he said.
Citing reports from various regions, Malaluan said that “learning continuity is also showing innovations and positive feedback.” These, he added, are “combination of these good practices as well as adjustments and calibrations on the challenges that will characterize the actions” of the department in the succeeding quarters.
DepEd Undersecretary for Field Operations Revsee Escobedo said that the DepEd Regional Offices “have expressed their readiness to prepare” for the second quarter of school year 2020-2021.
Based on the performance and feedback of the first quarter implementation, Escobedo said that the ROs “made sure to execute more innovative, accessible, and flexible systems” for all Schools Division Offices (SDOs) and schools nationwide.
To prepare for the second quarter starting in December, Escobedo explained the DepEd ROs will be implementing various plans, particularly to address concerns on learning materials.
Aside from utilization of division-based Self Learning Modules (SLMs), Escobedo said that the regional offices will also be “increasing the use of textbooks, activity sheets, television-based instruction, radio-based instruction, and online learning, in order to strengthen the learning process of all students.”
DepEd regional offices, Escobedo added, will also set-up more help desks and hotlines so parents and students can “access support more easily.”