DEPARTMENT of Education (DepEd) officials in Leyte have expressed confidence that they are ready for the opening of classes in the new normal.
"We are challenged by this pandemic. But this pandemic cannot stop us from educating our learners. There are a lot of questions about the readiness of DepEd on the opening of classes, but I can assure you DepEd Leyte has been doing its best so that we will be able to deliver what is expected of us,” said Dr. Manuel Albaño, schools division superintendent.
“Now that the opening was moved to October 5, the more we will be prepared,” he added.
As of Tuesday, August 18, Leyte division reported a total of 347, 333 enrolled students or 95.43 percent enrollment rate in the current school year compared to the 363, 948 elementary and secondary students registered in the previous academic year.
However, the official said they are sending a team to address the concerns of the parents and find those who have not yet enrolled in the 80 districts of the division.
According to Albaño, they have witnessed “unique preparation” in Leyte as they monitored the activities of different schools and districts covering 40 towns.
“Leyte is one of the biggest divisions in the country, but then we are not saying we cannot deliver with confidence in the opening of classes this October 5,” he said.
With the suspension of face-to-face classes, the DepEd will be introducing self-learning modules with alternative learning delivery modalities to the students.
“Education cannot wait. Our learners cannot wait. We need to move forward for us to come up with quality education for our learners in Leyte. We don’t want that a child will be left behind,” said Dr. Sherlita Palma, assistant schools division superintendent.
“We are very glad that we have done the necessary preparations in terms of reproduction of modules and procurement of bond paper,” said Palma, adding that they will have bidding on the printing of modules on August 19.
“We are expecting that they will deliver on the first week of September,” she said.
Safety first
Albaño said they have designed protocols according to the respective local government unit’s interagency task force (IATF) to ensure the health and safety of the learners in the opening of classes amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
“For example, if one town is declared to have local transmission by the Department of Health, we have to strictly follow. There should be no activities that would not concur with the local IATF,” Albaño said.
The education official admitted that travel restrictions posed a challenge to the teachers in the delivery of their learning modalities, particularly to the 274 “last mile schools” or those schools in the remote areas in the province.
To solve this, Albaño said they launched a division-wide “Ang Pagbalik” program, which allows teachers who are assigned in far-flung areas to return to the municipalities where they reside.
“We will reassign them, so their movements will be within their municipality,” he said.
The division identified over 100 teachers in the pilot implementation of the said program.
Despite the health crisis, the official said they continued the hiring of teachers and office personnel.
For this school year, the division will be filling up a total of 126 vacant items for Teacher -I and 56 items for administrative officers following the completion of their registry of applicants.
Modular, radio and TV-based learning
According to Albaño, classes in public schools in Leyte will not be costly under the new normal because their main modality will be modular, radio and television-learning.
They also have digitized lessons if a student will request using a USB flash drive.
“There is no need for internet connection,” he said.
He cited their partnership with PRTV, a local cable TV channel in Tacloban City, in the delivery of the television-based instructions.
He commended the local government of San Miguel town under Mayor Norman Sabdao for the launching of their radio channel to boost the distance learning for the students.
Albaño disclosed that they are negotiating with another radio station in Palompon town to provide them airtime for the delivery of lessons.
Felicidad Espinosa, chief of the curriculum implementation division, said they will be giving more “interactive activities” for the kindergarten students.
“It’s more on visual. We have contextualized activity sheets into audio and video presentations for the learners,” she said
Kindergarten schooling will also be reduced to two hours from the usual three hours of lesson.
According to Espinosa, they have already conducted pilot testing and capability training for video editors and curriculum writers.
The division assigned each school and district to make video lessons on the most essential learning competencies for different weeks.
She added that Alternative Learning System (ALS) will continue, including the ALS implementation to the persons deprived of liberty at the Leyte Regional Prison in Abuyog town.
Meanwhile, Socorro Ausa, education program supervisor and special education program coordinator, assured the delivery of lessons for students with special needs in the province.
“We crafted (the lessons) and piloted in the district. We also enhanced (the modules) based on the recommendation of the parents,” Ausa said.
Like ‘magicians’
Albaño assured the public that principals and teachers can rise above the challenges in the new normal classes.
“Lahat ng problema ay ginawang opportunity ng principals. Bigyan ng difficult task ang teachers, gagawa yan ng paraan... Karamihan sa mga teachers ay hindi pera ang sukatan kundi pagmamahal. Iilan lang nagreklamo,” he said.
“Maraming ginagawa ang teachers ngayon. Our enrollment still continues,” Albaño added.
While he commended the teachers who exerted extra efforts in looking for donors for the printing of modules, the official also assured them of the procurement of the bond paper and the refund of their expenses as long as they have corresponding receipts.
Albaño cited Juan V. Delantar National High School in Leyte, Leyte on how it “maximized” the use of their school maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) so that each student will have their modules.
Albaño also lauded the provincial government of Leyte for its willingness to procure Risograph machines to help them in printing the modules.
Tracking the unenrolled
Albaño admitted that some parents are hesitant to enroll their students due to fear of the virus and the lack of gadgets.
Division Planning Officer Nancy Tesado said a total of 16,615 public school learners have not yet enrolled this academic year.
In private schools, a total of 16,226 students have enrolled this school year compared to 22, 685 in the previous year, with a gap of 6,459 students.
A total of 896 students have also transferred from private to public schools while 155 students have also moved from public to private schools.
“Others have seen that public school has the capability to deliver distance modality. This is the general reason why they transferred,” said Albaño
Leyte division has a total number of 15, 698 teachers--with 9, 706 in elementary, 4, 530 in junior high, and 1, 392 in senior high--in 1, 259 elementary and secondary schools. (SunStar Philippines)