I RAISED the same concerns in the past about the adjustments of our learning institutions in the midst of this pandemic. The bottom line is the realization that all this cannot live by the same norm as during normal times because things have been altered by the pandemic. It follows that part of our innovations is to make our roles and rules attuned with the reality of the time.
This extends to offices, private or public, thinking that everything will have to be based on the situation set by the problems on Covid-19. Though it is to strike a balance between safety and the ongoing activities of our organizations, it has to go back to the same concerns of safety for the workers or employees. I knew many organizations who have been allowing their workers to report despite the dangers of the coronavirus are now being haunted by the cases of Covid-19 in their offices.
But there is a high expectation among our learning institutions to understand the situation and let other social institutions learn from what they could offer as part of educating society. It could be hard to think that the very institutions of learning were, in some instances, the least of social structures to understand the supposed policies responsive to the needs of the people, even at just protecting them from the coronavirus.
The announcement of the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) through Chairman Prospero De Vera is timely to set our direction on the future of higher education. On reports of the Manila Bulletin, De Vera announced that traditional face-to-face learning may not be applicable at the level of higher education as the Commission will adopt a policy to implement flexible learning.
“If we go back to the traditional face-to-face classroom, we run the risk of exposing our stakeholders to the same risks if another pandemic comes in and we would waste the investments in technology, teacher training and retrofitting of facilities”, De Vera said.
Inevitably, the next thing to look at is the way that higher education plays a role in the lives of our young people and society as a whole. It is good that as early as now, Ched acknowledged it should be proactive to weigh things, putting safety as the ultimate consideration. Going to school and prepare for the future is not only a burden to the government but for the family as well.
The pandemic makes life difficult for many Filipinos, thus, it should be the resolve of the government to ensure that policies are made to help lessen the impact of the crisis.
Before this announcement from chair De Vera, I have in mind that it would be a challenge if our courses and mode of teaching our students would remain the same. Because of the new normal, I doubt if our courses and subjects would still be what our new society needs. And whether spending the time and resources on face-to-face classes would be rewarded by a kind of career that future professionals will receive after the opening of the economy. From what I knew, we are still in our ongoing fight against the coronavirus with the hope that vaccination could be rolled out fast to reach herd immunity. This means it is still uncertain.
Safety is still our priority while not sacrificing the quality of education and the efforts to be rendered by faculty and students in these new normal times.
We can’t go beyond something we cannot see at this point. Yet, Ched on its level might have seen the practical side that most of all favor the Filipinos now and in the future.