By Manolo Serapio Jr.

A year since the Philippines shut schools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of children are grappling with remote learning, and with no clear path back towards some normalcy in education, they will continue to struggle.

With online access limited in many parts of the country, the majority of the 25 million students enrolled in the current school year use printed learning modules. Learning outside classrooms, however, is tough for many children and not all parents are able to help them out at home.

In the case of 15-year old Dyamia Cacatian from Vigan, Ilocos Sur and her brother Harley who have lost both parents years ago, they only have each other to turn to for help. While they are both honor students, she admits missing in-person classes where learning is more enduring.

With modular learning, “I feel like I’m just trying to chase deadlines,” says Dyamia.

Czarina Elape from Caloocan City says her two young sons also miss going to school. Currently, she is unable to take up a job offer from a relative because she cannot leave her children, who both have visual disability, at home. “I need to constantly be with them and help them with school work,” she says.

And some students are clearly having difficulties understanding lessons with the shift to remote learning.

In Valenzuela City, which uses both online and modular modes of learning, the average grade for the first quarter among Grade 8-10 learners ranges from 48% to 55% across different subjects, well below the passing rate of 75%, according to Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, head of the Senate committee on basic education.

Learning loss

Since putting the main Luzon island and later, the entire country, in what would be one of the world’s strictest lockdowns, a year ago, the government has been slowly reopening the economy. But there have been no concrete plans to reopen schools.

A proposal by the Department of Education to reopen a limited number of schools for a trial run in January did not push through. A renewed surge in COVID-19 cases may delay further plans for now.

The Philippines, along with Myanmar and Bangladesh, are the only countries in Asia where schools have remained closed, according to Zurich-based independent educational foundation Insights for Education.

“There will definitely be regression,” says Lucia Lamanero, a school principal in Iloilo province. “If our students lagged behind those from other countries before, we have a bigger problem now.”

Fifteen-year old students from the Philippines ranked lowest among 79 countries in reading proficiency and second lowest in mathematics and science in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment.

Intervention via tutorials

Lamanero, a partner educator of Synergeia Foundation, decided to intervene and launched in-person tutorials to help out students learning remotely. Along with teachers and volunteers, she tutors groups of students in open areas while wearing masks and observing physical distancing.

“We just cannot sit idly in the school waiting for modules to be returned and checked,” she said. “We have to go out and see for ourselves how learners are doing in their homes.”

Synergeia, supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the United Nations Children’s Fund and Government of Japan, has been pushing its local government partners across the Philippines to hold in-person tutorials safely in places where online access is limited.

Apart from Iloilo, these mentoring sessions in purok or sitios – small community areas – are now being implemented in the provinces of Maguindanao, La Union and Lanao del Sur.

Nonetheless, distance education has spurred the development of independent learning as students explore ways to absorb lessons quickly instead of relying heavily on teachers, says Meliton Zurbano, the schools division superintendent in Valenzuela City.

But it has increased the gap between fast and slow learners, as seen in a tutorial program in Masiu, Lanao del Sur which uses videotaped materials created by teachers.

“It’s the fast learners who are really benefiting greatly while the slow learners are less interested,” says Nihayma Macasindil, public schools district supervisor in Masiu.

By Malio Aguilar

Rosemarie Cobre and Ferly Bones share a lot of things in common: both of them are mothers in their 50s, both of them have two children and both are high school graduates who have become pillars of education in their communities.

Cobre is the head of the Federation of the School Governing Councils in Bacnotan, La Union, an association involved in policy making in 17 elementary schools in the municipality.

Bones is the chairperson of a School Governing Council (SGC) in Batad, Iloilo who converted her home into a tutorial center for children who are having a tough time with remote learning.

SGCs help craft school improvement plans and they participate in formulating school policies and programs that benefit learners. Parents, barangay officials, teachers, non-government organizations and anybody who can devote time and self in improving the education of children can be part of SGCs.

As it works with more than 400 local governments across the Philippines to improve the quality of basic education, Synergeia Foundation holds workshops to guide SGCs, like those in Bacnotan and Batad, in preparing action plans including a budget and sustainability feature.

“All I want is that no child in Bacnotan would grow up ignorant,” said Cobre.

Born to a poor family, Cobre was unable to study beyond high school as she needed to work early being the eldest child in a brood of four. Little did she know that she would become so involved in the education of her own children.

She was president of the Parent-Teachers’ Association at Bacnotan Central School for many years before eventually heading the school’s SGC and later the municipality’s Federation of SGCs.

With the pandemic forcing children to learn remotely, she plans to start off an adult literacy program called the Barangay Literacy Coordinating Council to help unschooled parents assist their children at home.

“I realized I could help in the education of the children in our community even if I didn’t get to finish my own education and that poverty should not be a barrier,” says Cobre.

Tutorials at home

In Batad, 51-year old vegetable vendor Bones opened her home to 14 students in her neighborhood to help tutor them, along with some volunteer teachers, with their learning modules.

After participating in some seminars about distance education organized by the local government and Synergeia Foundation, Bones realized she needed to help out children who are left on their own devices at home because their parents are either working or unschooled.

“I told the parents not to worry because I will help their children with the modules,” she said. She tutors the Grade 2 and 3 students in the morning, followed by Grade 6 students in the afternoon and a mix of high school students in the evening.

Every now and then, she invites volunteer teachers to mentor the students and sometimes her own children help her out.

In a community where many youths marry young or skip school to work for their families, she keeps on reminding parents that education should be top priority for their children.

“I should know because my own parents wanted me to be a teacher, but I didn’t listen to them,” she admits. “Now, thanks to the pandemic, I’ve become a teacher of sorts to children who need some guidance.”

Rise in functioning SGCs

Functional and active SGCs are partly the reason why Bacnotan has been a three-time recipient of the annual Seal of Good Education Governance awarded by Synergeia and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). 

When USAID began its Education Governance Effectiveness program through Synergeia in 2013, only 1.6% or 29 out of 1,838 SGCs participated in planning, formulating and implementing school policies. Another 43.3% had no SGCs and 39.1% had non-functioning SGCs.

At the end of 2020, the number of schools with functioning and participatory SGCs had surged to 1,331.

Fully operating SGCs and a reading proficiency program helped Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya reduce its non-readers and frustrated readers by 63% in 2018-19.

In Vigan, Ilocos Sur, working SGCs helped cut the number of the city’s frustrated readers by nearly 35% and boosted its cohort survival rate to 99.5% during the same period.

Both Kayapa and Vigan were first-time recipients of the Seal in 2019. The next batch of Seal winners will be announced during the 14th Washington SyCip National Education Summit to be held virtually on March 25-26. It will be streamed live on Synergeia’s Facebook page.

By Manolo Serapio Jr.

Like her six-year old daughter, 25-year-old Raquela Pangantapun from the province of Lanao del Sur is learning to read and write for the first time, thanks to an adult literacy program that is helping parents help their children learn remotely.

Pangantapun is among 100 or so parents in the municipality of Masiu who either did not complete their primary education or did not go to school at all and are being taught by a team of teachers and volunteers.

“As I teach my daughter to write her name, I also learn to write my own name,” she says. “It makes me happy.”

With the coronavirus pandemic shutting schools and forcing children to learn from their homes, many unschooled parents are unable to take on the teacher’s role, prompting educators to step in.

The program called Siyap, Ugop ko mga Loks – which in Maranao means Care and Help for Parents – or SULO is the brainchild of Nihayma Macasindil, public schools district supervisor in Masiu. She said it is meant to address the grievances of parents who felt they were ill-equipped to mentor their children at home.

“Many parents were thinking of making their children skip school because they can’t possibly help them at home. So, I thought why not give the parents basic literacy lessons?” says Macasindil.

SULO, which means lamp, began in November and the literacy sessions are done twice a week. The participating parents are spread in small groups and are given basic reading and writing lessons by teachers and volunteers in the barangay learning center or open areas with strict compliance to safety protocols.

The program covers parents of kindergarten to Grade 3 students in three schools. Macasindil said they plan to roll it out in more schools and barangays after they do an assessment of SULO this month.

Spurred by the literacy program, Pangantapun plans to enrol in an Alternative Learning System when the quarantine restrictions are lifted.

Functional SGC

Some parents joined the program because they want to be able to vote on their own during the national elections in May 2022.

“Those who can’t read or write are usually assisted by someone else in the polling stations who end up voting on their behalf. A lot of times they’re not sure they get to vote for who they want,” said Macasindil.

The 35-year-old mother said she was inspired to do more for the community with the rollout of School Governing Councils (SGCs) in Masiu by Synergeia Foundation in February last year in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund and the Government of Japan (GOJ).

SGCs help craft school improvement plans and participate in formulating school policies and programs that will benefit learners. Parents, barangay officials, teachers, non-government organizations and anybody who can devote time and self in improving the education of children can be part of SGCs.

“I used to leave everything to each school. But now I have learned to step in because we need as many stakeholders as possible to help us in the education of children,” said Macasindil.

As it works with 429 local governments across the Philippines to improve the quality of basic education, Synergeia holds workshops to help mobilize SGCs and make them functional. Synergeia guides SGCs in preparing action plans, complete with a simple budget and sustainability feature.

Functional SGCs and the involvement of the community in helping parents and children during the pandemic are among the criteria that Synergeia will use in choosing which cities and municipalities to award its annual Seal of Good Education Governance.

The next batch of Seal recipients will be announced during the 14th Washington SyCip National Education Summit to be held virtually on March 25-26. It will be streamed live on Synergeia’s Facebook page.

Grade 5 teacher Sahria Pangandaman, among the teachers for SULO, is in awe of the parents who are part of the program.

“They already have families but they’re very determined to learn. They’re helping themselves and they’re able to guide their children somehow with their modules,” she says. “That’s quite inspiring.”