Across the world, school closures due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic brought significant disruptions to education.
In the Philippines, the pandemic highlighted inequality and losses in learning among Filipino students, among others.
When schools were closed in 2020, everyone knew that the road to recovery would be very challenging.
While the task of continuing education amid the raging pandemic seemed daunting, the Department of Education (DepEd) faced it head on and opened the school year (SY) 2020-2021 on Oct. 5, 2020.
Under a distance learning set-up, DepEd wrapped up SY 2020-2021 in July this year.
Two months after, DepEd took on the challenge of opening yet another school year.
Keeping in mind the lessons of the previous school year, DepEd formally opened the SY 2021-2022 on Sept. 13 under an enhanced blended learning set-up.
Rising above the challenges of the pandemic
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, DepEd had already been strengthening its efforts to provide accessible and quality education to all Filipino learners.
Despite the challenges under the new normal in education, DepEd said that it will continue to “strive in implementing initiatives and interventions” to help Filipino learners and the basic education system rise above the challenges of the pandemic.
“Looking back, the Year 2021 has been remarkable in our road to recovery,” DepEd told the Manila Bulletin in a statement issued by the Office of Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones.
DepEd noted that with a “wider grasp in dealing with the constraints of the public health crisis,” its schools and field offices have provided improved capacity in implementing the Basic Education-Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP) which was first implemented in SY 2020-2021.
“We managed to breach the previous enrollment figure for School Year 2021-2022,” DepEd said.
Citing its records, DepEd noted a four-percent increase in enrollment --- from 26.2 million the previous school year to 27.2 million in the current SY.
For DepEd, this was a “strong showing of trust of learners and parents” to the agency in providing learning opportunities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unlike in the previous school year, DepEd said it encountered lesser errors in the self-learning modules (SLMs) as “we established stricter quality control mechanisms.”
DepEd said that it was also able to expand the features of various initiatives for blended learning such as the DepEd TV and DepEd Commons as well as its other regional initiatives.
In the hopes to provide reliable information and communication technology (ICT) services in basic education institutions nationwide including the Last Mile Schools, DepEd said it has also partnered with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to establish the Public Education Network (PEN).
Big stride: Face-to-face classes
For 2021, DepEd considers the pilot implementation of limited face-to-face classes in basic education as a very crucial step towards recovery.
“We made great strides in reintroducing face-to-face classes after months of closure due to the pandemic,” DepEd said.
With the help of the Department of Health (DOH), local government units (LGUs), and partners, DepEd welcomed back learners in select schools located in low-risk areas last month.
On Nov. 15, DepEd started the the pilot implementation of limited face-to-face classes in public schools. A week after, select private schools were also allowed to hold pilot face-to-face classes.
Early this month, DepEd also allowed some Metro Manila schools to join the pilot run of limited face-to-face classes. More qualified public and private schools in various regions also started with their pilot in-person classes.
During the hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture on Dec. 17, Education Assistant Secretary Malcolm Garma said that 287 schools or 265 public and 22 private schools are participating in the pilot run of limited face-to-face classes.
There were also eight international schools in Metro Manila that have been allowed by DepEd and DOH to join pilot face-to-face classes.
In the four weeks of holding pilot face-to-face classes, Garma said that there was no reported COVID-19 case among the participants in the pilot run.
With the Christmas vacation scheduled to start on Dec. 20, DepEd has decided to end the pilot run of the limited face-to-face classes.
After getting the reports from the participating schools, DepEd will submit a report to President Duterte on the findings during the pilot face-to-face classes and will wait for his instructions on the expansion phase set to start in the first quarter of 2022.
“Next year, we are hopeful to expand the number of schools that can implement face-to-face learning modality, subject to the approval of the President,” DepEd said.
Moving forward
For 2022, among DepEd's utmost priorities is the expanding the coverage of face-to-face classes to more schools nationwide.
“Utilizing the lessons from the pilot stage, we are eyeing to enhance our safeguards for our participating stakeholders while maintaining the framework of shared responsibility,” DepEd said.
With this goal, DepEd said that vaccinating teachers and non-teaching personnel against COVID-19 will remain a “crucial step” in the safe back-to-school efforts of the government.
“Given the emerging threat of the Omicron variant, we will support the national government in sustaining its campaign to vaccinate more Filipinos, including our eligible young population,” the agency noted.
Recognizing the efforts of teachers as education frontliners, DepEd said that the advocacy to further support them will also remain its priority in 2022.
As such, DepEd said that it has laid down a “more comprehensible professional development plan” for teachers’ careers through the National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP).
With the 2022 elections in sight, DepEd said that it continues to coordinate with the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to provide additional benefits for public school teachers who will serve in the poll.
DepEd said that it will further strengthen the initiatives under “Sulong EduKalidad” which is the agency’s battle cry in addressing the challenges of quality education in the country.
Under Briones’ leadership, DepEd said that it will “never stop pushing for aggressive reforms” to transform the country’s basic education system.
“We expect nothing less but more challenges in 2022,” DepEd said.
“But as we have witnessed and celebrated more stories of passion and ingenuity of our dear teachers, staff, learners, and partners, we are confident that, as long as we are united, we can weather any storm that comes our way,” it added.