Citing the results of its initial assessment on school opening, the Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday, Nov. 3, said that measures will be in place to address the concerns of students and teachers who are “overwhelmed” under the distance learning set-up. 

DepEd Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio, during the virtual “Laging Handa” public briefing, explained that “academic ease” measures were issued to help the students transition into the new ways of learning. 

“Ang ginawa po natin, sang-ayon sa aming pagpupulong last week, ay maglabas po ng issuance ang aming tanggapan, ang tanggapan ng Curricululum and Instruction, na bigyang-diin ‘yung pagpapagaan po, academic ease, para nga po makapag-transition ang ating mga bata (What we did, based on what we have agreed on during the meeting last week, is to release an issuance that would highlight academic ease so we could help our children transition),” San Antonio explained. 

San Antonio said that the first quarter will be extended since it is the adjustment period for many students after months-long suspension of classes. “Pinapayagan po natin na ‘yung mga activities sa self-learning modules ay bawasan o hanapin ‘yung mga lubhang mahalaga lamang (We are allowing activities in the self-learning modules to be lessened or to just focus on the most important ones),” he added. 

Teachers, San Antonio said, are strongly enjoined to adopt Instructional Management Task. “Ine-expect din po natin na may suporta pa rin ang mga paaralan sa mental health and socio-emotional well-being ng ating mga kapwa guro at mag-aaral (We are also expecting the schools to support mental and socio-emotional well-being of both teachers and students),” he explained. 

On Oct. 30, San Antonio issued Memorandum OUCI-2020-307, which outlined 10 highly-recommended measures to field units to ensure flexibility in teaching and learning as a response to the request of teacher and student groups to ease the components of distance learning implementation.

“The measures suggested are expected to enable the learners and learning facilitators to navigate through the challenges of the new normal in the teaching and learning process and make necessary adjustments throughout the school year,” San Antonio said.

San Antonio noted that some of the measures recommended are the reconsideration of time allotment for the completion and submission of activities by the learners, and the expansion of mental health/socio-emotional well-being support to teachers, learners, and parents through group wellness sessions.

Teachers and learning support aides will also provide additional support to households that are experiencing difficulties in accomplishing SLMs or Learning Activity Sheets (LAS) independently.

Meanwhile, schools are also advised to put a premium on instructional management tasks for teachers, such that they should not be burdened with printing and distributing modules. Schools can also determine activities contained in the first quarter SLMs or LAS that may be declared as optional while additional enrichment activities in the SLM can be offered to fast learners. 

For the succeeding quarters, San Antonio said that learning tasks in the SLMs may be streamlined to ensure that activities sufficiently develop learning competencies leading to mastery. 

“The need to adjust the assigned tasks for the learners is anchored on the fact that learners have long been disengaged from academic learning since the onset of the pandemic last March 2020,” he added. 

San Antonio also added that Regional and Schools Division Offices are authorized to implement other academic ease measures appropriate for their respective contexts.