Manila, Philippines- DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones tackled the protocols, mediums and implementation of Distant learning in the system of conducting classes in different institutions in the country on President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s (PRRD) addressing the nation last May 28, 2020.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Secretary Briones stated that the Department of Education (DepED) will implement distant learning called blended learning, a basic education continuity plan. Blended learning is an interactive way of learning at the comfort of the learner’s home, since traditional way of learning is currently prohibited because of the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic. Additional to that, President Duterte opposed Secretary Briones’ proposal of opening of classes on August 24 for school year’s 2020-2021 as he stated, “Bakuna muna, Bago pasok” rest assured the safety of both parties, the learners and teachers.
Under the blended learning program, students in different levels will be using desktops or laptops with an internet connection and will be taught using online learning platform. Briones stated that DepED has already seven million subscribers on their social media platform enough to disseminate informations and online modules to the students. She is also confident that the teachers can cope up with this uncommon way of education as DepED surveyed their currently employed teachers, she said that out of 788,000 teachers who are employed under DepED, more than 700,000 have their own laptops or desktops.
Another option is that if a learner does not have an internet connection and desktops, DepED will provide printed modules to be delivered to their homes by their respective barangay workers. Aside from printed materials, televisions and radio frequencies are also proposed to be a means of education or medium of learning for the learners.
The Department of Education (DepED) is already at work with the Presidential Communications (Government of the Philippines)-PCOO which is volunteering it’s facilities through IBC TV 13 and proposed that 15% of airtime should be dedicated for children’s learning programs. On the otherside, Radio Station frequencies is at the pend of deal with the Department of Education (DepED) to the remote areas for them to keep in touch with the learning progress as she quoted, “There should be opportunities for them to learn”.
Concerns about the Child’s welfare and parent’s anxiety problems answered as Secretary Briones’ proposal to the filipino people. She added a statement on how parents can monitor the performance and grades of their children while they are away from their institutions or learning areas. Briones said that the teachers are on hand on the student’s performance by giving feedbacks through emails or social media messages with their tabulated records.
As Secretary Briones noting a question, “Are we prepared?” she strongly emphasized that distant education is already at practice by Universities and other institutions and is not new invention or medium of education, saying that they are only utilizing existing ways of learning and Communication. (WORDS BY: ERCHEL SHEEN GABONADA PHOTO CREDIT TO: CNN PHILIPPINES)