Sixty percent of families said they dedicate more time now to teach and guide children in the blended learning modality than in the traditional face-to-face educational system, a survey from Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed.
Based on the survey released Saturday, March 13, the figure is the sum of 43 percent of families with enrolled members aged five to 20 years old who said they dedicate “much more time now” and 17 percent who give “somewhat more time now.”
On the other hand, 28 percent said they give “less time now” to teach their kids, consisting of 18 percent saying they give “somewhat less time now” and 10 percent giving “much less time now.”
Meanwhile, the remaining 11 percent say the amount of time they allocate to assist their children with their studies is neither more nor less now.
The SWS also disclosed that more families in Mindanao (63 percent) said that they give more time now in teaching children under the new educational setup compared in the Visayas (61 percent), Metro Manila (59 percent), and Balance Luzon (57 percent).
Amid the ongoing pandemic, the Department of Education (DepEd) has imposed the blended learning setup for this school year to ensure that students could continue with their education despite the threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“It is called ‘blended’ because schools can offer a mix of two or more learning modalities to one student. This is in contrast to the largely traditional face-to-face learning system implemented in pre-COVID-19 times,” the SWS said.
Mothers help children with their lessons
The Fourth Quarter 2020 Social Weather Survey, the first in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, also found out that 57 percent of the respondents said that the mother primarily help children in studying their lessons.
This was distantly followed by siblings (13 percent), father (6 percent), grandparent (5 percent), uncle/aunt (4 percent), cousin (2 percent), brother/sister-in-law (1 percent), grandchildren (0.4 percent), nephew/niece (0.4 percent), and son/daughter-in-law (0.3 percent).
Meanwhile, 9 percent of families said no family member assists in the children’s learning.
The poll body also found out that the percentage of those who indicated that the mother assists children in studying their lessons is higher in Balance Luzon and Mindanao (both 60 percent) compared in the Visayas (53 percent) and Metro Manila (51 percent).
“The percentage is also higher among families in rural areas (61 percent) than among those in urban areas (53 percent),” the SWS noted.
“Notably, those who say no household member assists in children’s learning are higher in Metro Manila (18 percent) than in other areas (6-10 percent),” it added.
The results of the poll also showed that slightly more among families whose household head has only up to some junior high school education or less mentioned sibling as the one who assists children with their lessons.
“The top response in all groups remains the mother. However, those whose household head is an elementary dropout recorded a lower percentage at 47 percent,” the poll body said.
“This is lower than families whose head completed elementary education or more (54-66 percent),” it added.
The survey was conducted from Nov. 21 to 25, 2020 using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults with ages 18 years old and above nationwide.