The message came at 3:00 pm. It contained a terse invitation. It simply said that each School Governing Council of Masiu is encouraged to join the on-line meeting with the Synergeia Foundation.
Ms. Salimah looked at the message and sighed. She wanted to join the meeting but logistical concerns would make it seem impossible for her to do so. The school, which she has headed for the past three years, was located in one of the remotest parts of her town. Internet connectivity was a luxury not afforded in her place. Even if she travelled to the town center, she would be hard-pressed to find a signal.
Yet, she was convinced that she and her team needed to be in the scheduled meeting. In the middle of the Covid – 19 pandemic and with quarantine protocols set in place, Ms. Salimah knew that her role as a school head would be very much different in the coming school year. She needed to think of better ways to educate the school children given that face to face classroom interaction has been prohibited for the rest of the year. She knew that with everything in the education system not clearly in place, her team of 15 school teachers would not be totally ready when the scheduled opening of classes came. She needed the help of the larger community. She needed to learn from the others in the municipality. With all these things in mind, Salimah made her decision. She took out her cell phone, wrote a simple message and sent it to her companions.
At exactly 4:30 am the following day, Salimah was already in front of the Barangay Hall. She was the first to arrive at the meeting place. She waited nervously for her other companions to arrive. While all of the 5 companions she invited said yes to her invitation, she was still unsure if they really meant it. Her fears were dissipated , when finally they arrived one by one. At a quarter before 5:00 am, they were ready to leave.
Salimah and her team arrived at Iligan City at exactly 8:00 in the morning. To be able to join the on-line meeting , Salimah made the decision to bring her team to a city three hours way from their community.
The meeting promptly started at 9:00 am. Salimah was surprised upon seeing that three out of the four school districts of Masiu were properly represented . She learned that like her team, there were also other school governing councils who went out of their town to get a better signal.
Salimah thought that since she and her team was already in a city with a better internet signal, the virtual meeting would proceed smoothly. However, it did not. Connection was sometimes lost. The voice of the facilitator, at times, became choppy. Other participants were noisy. But , everyone stayed patient. Everyone remained. Everyone participated.
In the end, Salimah’s perseverance, together with her team, paid off. She did not only learn something new from her companions, she was also able to share some ideas of her own.
Among the strategies to increase enrollment and continue pursuing quality education in the middle of the pandemic she learned that day were:
1. SGC teams can work together to conduct house to house visits and encourage those parents who have not yet enrolled their children to enroll them already.
2. SGC teams can provide free school supplies to the school children.
3. Volunteers can be tapped to be community learning facilitators.
4. Video lessons can be produced and played in various barangay learning centers where students may watch them under the guidance of a learning faciltator
5. Barangay Local Government Units can make use of the education fund to provide materials needed for the printing of the modules.
6. Barangay halls can be transformed into learning centers were students may gather to attend tutorial sessions conducted by volunteers.
As the meeting drew to a close, Salimah knew that she maade the right decision to join the on-line meeting. She would be needing the help of the whole community in making education work in the middle of the pandemic.
And as her team made their three – hour travel back to Masiu, Salimah once again took out her cell phone and started composing a simple message.
“Thank you Synergeia for partnering with the teachers from Mindanao. It is truly a blessing working with you.”
With five children, a single mobile phone and a WiFi connection courtesy of her neighbor, Joyless Presado is undaunted by the challenges of distance learning, the new education model that’s added teacher to a parent’s multiple hats.
“Because they can’t go to school due to the pandemic, children should understand that there’s always a solution,” says the 38-year old mother from Valenzuela City, north of the Philippine capital Manila. “This is what I tell my kids so they’re excited even if it’s online learning because they want to learn.
“You can’t be too negative because education should continue,” said Presado, who admits her name is a misnomer. “I’m joyful by heart.”
In Pandan in the province of Antique in central Philippines, Richard Suñega, a father of three, picks up his neighbour’s kids during the day and teaches them along with his own. “We should focus on the youth today because they need to continue learning and I support that,” he said.
As the coronavirus pandemic shuttered schools and relocated learning to homes, parents have now taken on the role of educators, guiding their children through learning modules given by schools and online classes.
Synergeia Foundation, a non-profit organisation targeting to lift the quality of basic education, partnered with local governments and the Department of Education, and from August began virtual workshops with parents in various cities and towns across the Philippines to help them cope with their new task as teachers.
Nanay-Tatay Teacher
Synergeia’s Nanay-Tatay Teacher campaign, with workshops done via Zoom video conferencing and broadcast on Facebook, where Presado and Suñega shared some of their experiences, aims to arm parents with the right mindset in schooling their children.
“The first role of a teacher is to provide inspiration,” says Synergeia Chief Executive Officer and President Milwida Guevara, who leads the workshops with Synergeia Vice Chairman Dr. Antonio Torralba.
“If your child is inspired, he understands the importance of education and you’ll only need to do little to discipline him,” says Guevara.
Guevara, who was Finance Undersecretary for nearly a decade through 2000, said it is important to focus on three essential learning competencies – reading, mathematics and character education – at this time when the conventional school system is not available and the burden of teaching students lies with their own parents, many of them already stretched thin by their jobs.
“This is not a normal situation so do not focus on the subject matter, focus on the child,” she says.
That is a learning that 40-year-old Ana Vi Conadera tries to put to heart as she guides her Grade 7 son through 11 school modules covering different subjects.
Conadera, from Talisay City in central Negros Occidental province, picked up the modules herself when public schools launched classes on Oct. 5. They need to be returned the following week when she’ll get fresh modules.
Internet speed in the Philippines is among the slowest in the world, ranking 106th in terms of fixed broadband and 120th for mobile based on Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index in August.
Premium on values
With Internet availability slow, costly or scarce in many areas, most public schools are supplying learning materials or modules to students, putting parents in charge of teaching them to their kids.
“It’s difficult so I’ve asked my sister to help out,” said Conadera, on how she deals with helping her son, Andrew, with his lessons.
She’s a solo parent to Andrew and eight-year old Reana who starts getting her own modules a week later, and can only help out when she finishes work in the local barangay office mid-afternoon after a busy morning cooking meals she sells through her sister’s store.
“I try not to exert too much pressure on him since classes have just begun. But I remind him to read through his lessons again and again so he’ll pick it up,” says Conadera who’s thankful her younger child is excelling academically. “She tells me to spend more time with her brother since she’s doing fine on her own.”
Synergeia’s Torralba says “one of the best gifts we can give our country is nurturing the minds and hearts of our children.”
To that end, Pasig City resident Rochelle Berdan says she puts premium on value formation over academics.
“I don’t need my child to be extremely intelligent. What I need is a child who is loving and has respect for others,” says Berdan who has two kids in grade school.
Seeing her children grow up with the right values “gives me a greater sense of fulfilment as a mother,” said Berdan.
The pandemic-enforced learning system has also spurred volunteerism among some parents. Ferly Bones says she helps teach 15 mostly grade schoolers in her neighbourhood in Batad in central Iloilo province, allowing her to discover the potential of each child that may otherwise be overlooked in a regular school setup.
“There are children who can’t read but are good in drawing, so they have a skill that can be developed. I realised even the simplest kids have talent that can be nurtured,” Bones said during last week’s Synergeia-led workshop for parents of the Batad and Dumangas municipalities in Iloilo.
Alongside that epiphany, Bones says she realised “that even if I’m a simple mother, I can also be a teacher.”
After several months of battling the covid19 pandemic, the ZamBaSulTa (Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-tawi) Regional Education Council (REC) has regrouped last September 15, 2020 to talk about their learning continuity plans. REC Chairperson and Bongao Mayor Jimuel Que presided. For many of the REC members, getting a good online connection proved to be challenging but they patiently stayed on or reconnected if they lost their signal. The representative of Omar even travelled to Jolo, to the Synergeia site office, just to be able to participate because there was no signal in Omar.
LGU Learning Continuity Plans.
Municipality of Bongao, Tawi-Tawi Province – Bongao did not have covid infections for a long time so the LGU thought that they would be able to conduct face-to-face classes. But the town was hit by widespread infections recently that they have to immediately shift to modular distance learning approach. With the limited time to prepare learning modules, Synergeia CEO and President Dr. Guevara said that she will ask Valenzuela’s help if it can share its modules with Bongao. Student enrolment has also declined by 10 per cent because of fear of getting infected by the covid virus.
Despite their health concerns, they cannot let go of their children’s education. Bongao has formulated its learning continuity plan with 4 overarching goals – to enhance learning activities, to ensure safety of learners, to support learning through assessment and to mobilize community stakeholders. Their plan has defined their expected outputs and outcomes, their timeframe to accomplish their activities and the responsible persons to do the tasks. They will tap the SEF and the schools’ MOOE to fund their activities.
GOAL 1: Ensuring learners are reached, enrolled and satisfactorily engaged in the learning activities until they complete the desired level. Reproduction of Self-Learning Modules (SLM) District Level Orientation Parents’ Orientation
GOAL 2: Ensuring the safety and well-being of the learners, their families, and the education personnel. Disinfection and sanitation of school buildings and the school areas.Preparation of hand-wash sanitation area in every school. Regular disinfection and sanitation of school areas.
GOAL 3: Adapting appropriate teaching and learning process best suited to the context of the learners and their families. Modular Distance Learning Assessment and Evaluation (per class, school, then district)Creation of Group Chats (Messenger) for updates and dissemination of instructions to parents and learners.
GOAL 4: Mobilizing stakeholders to establish partnership and solidarity to support learning continuity. SGC Monitoring of the Modular Distance Learning on learner’s development SGC Capacity Training for the New-Normal Education
Municipality of Jolo, Sulu Province. Jolo LGU said it is committed to ensure that education continues despite the most challenging circumstances. They will ensure that learning continues through the most appropriate mode of delivery. Their learning continuity plan has the following components:
Learning materials for home schooling will be printed and ready for distribution to students. By way of support for module reproduction, the LGU provided copiers to the 4 districts of Jolo and one to the office of the superintendent.
They will ensure that health measures are strengthened and protocols are practiced conscientiously.
Parents were given orientation workshops on how students learn at home.
Their next plans include: To map slow and non-readers. To conduct workshop for creation of reading materials. To orient Jolo Municipal volunteers to assist parents and provide home service volunteer work.
Pictures from Jolo, Sulu on distribution of copiers by the LGU and the parents’ workshop they conducted
Municipality of Omar, Sulu Province. Omar representative, Mr. Habibazar S. Mustafa, was proud to report on the initiatives of the LSB and SGC in Omar. Last September 25, 2019, their Mayor signed Executive Order No. 002, entitled “Reconstituting the LSB of the Municipality of Omar, Sulu with Mayor as the Chair, and District In-Charge of MBHTE as CO-Chair.” The LSB conducts regular quarterly meetings and regularly advises the school administrators on policies and procedures for effective learning. They conducted a municipal education summit on February 24, 2020 with 150 participants comprising of teachers, parents, barangay and municipal officials and staff, PNP and military representatives.
The LSB and the SGC must work together for the effective delivery of education especially during this pandemic. It has been helpful for Omar that the SGCs of all 15 schools have undergone training on their roles and functions last February 27, 2020. They trained in action planning and did their own individual plans with corresponding budgets. The SGC/ PTCA is also represented in the Local School Board.
Their LGU is now faced with a reduction in student enrolment from 3,683 in SY 2019 to 3,158 this SY 2020, or a decrease of 525 enrollees. This is mainly due to the pandemic and fear of parents that a vaccine is nowhere in sight. Some families have also changed residence. Even with this predicament, Omar thinks that the quality of education must be sustained. Mr. Mustafa presented the learning continuity plan of Omar:
The LSB will: Sustain the P2,000/ mo. honorarium of seventy (70) volunteer teachersImmediately install handwashing facility in every classroom of 15 schools Purchase risograph machine for weekly reproduction of modules and activity sheets of pupils.Provide teachers’ training on remediation for non-readersParents, especially the non-readers among them, are being enrolled in the alternative learning system
Municipality of Maluso, Basilan Province. Maluso town is still in the process of student enrolment and hopes that their enrolment figures will still improve. At the moment, only 8,903 students are enrolled in elementary and high school, or a 21 per cent decline from last year’s enrolment. The LSB Secretary, Ms. Aurora Catigum, reported that they are reaching out and contacting parents to have their children enrolled in school.
These are the education plans of Maluso:
Prioritizing LSB Programs on Distance/Remote Learning Production of learning modules Conduct of Dry Run Give priority assistance to schools without MOOE Utilize the Local Radio Station Crafting of LSB Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan
Engaging and working with the Community – SGCs, Parents, Schools and BarangaysParents’ engagement in distance learning Parents as Facilitators Barangay hall as drop off/pick up points of printed learning modules Brigada Eskwela (on Schools Disinfection)Orientation on Health Protocols
3. Strengthening REC Coordination and Partnership Quarter Meetings/Assembly Sharing of Best Practices
Municipality of Al-Barka, Basilan Province. Al-Barka’s main challenge under the distance learning mode is that majority of the parents are unable to teach their children at home. The LGU is now studying whether it would allow sending students to school for half-day classes but maintaining a limited number of students inside classrooms and following all health protocols.
In the meantime, Al-Barka has been preparing for remote learning. The LSB purchased 13 printers for the reproduction of modular lessons to be distributed in 12 schools in Al-Barka and in District Office. It has also hired on job order basis, Education graduates and assigned them in different schools in Al-Barka to fill up the shortage of teacher. The LGU has also hired IT graduates on job order and assigned them to different schools to help the teachers in distance teaching and in the operation of reproduction machines.
Municipality of Lamitan, Basilan Province. The SDS of Lamitan made the presentation on behalf of the LSB. She said that they are ready with their modules for the 1st and 2nd quarters. She will provide Synergeia with sample copies of the modules. She also reported that the LSB has included in the Lamitan medium-term plan the establishment of a local tv/radio station and internet connection that can be used in remote learning.
Municipality of Siayan, Zamboanga del Norte Province. The Mayor of Siayan, Atty. Josecor Gepolongca believes that if they focused on education, their municipality will no longer be declared as one of the poorest in the country. He acknowledged that this could be quite a challenge in the face of the pandemic but emphasized that his administration will not be deterred and will continue to pursue his agenda of hope focusing on education.
Siayan has 36 schools and 8 newly created extension high schools. There are 7,046 elementary students and 3,065 high school students, or a total of 10,111. For this coming school year, Siayan will implement a blended learning approach, i.e., the modular and home-based learning will be reinforced by radio-based instruction by teachers. Their learning continuity program involves these strategies:
Sustaining enrolment numbers Coordination meetings between LSB and DepEdEnrolment campaigns over the radioDistribution of enrolment forms by the barangays, teachers and grassroots and livelihood councils of the LGULGU conducted an intensive campaign on alternative mode of delivery for out of school youth through the ALS so they can continue learning, especially those in the far-flung areasVisitation to far-flung areas, led by the Mayor
Teachers and parents training on blended educationTeacher training on radio broadcasting because some lessons will be broadcasted over the local radioParents’ orientation in blended learning
LGU allocated 2 units of photocopiers to the district
LSB realigned the SEF for the purchase of PPEs
Extension schools were established; make-shift buildings were constructed
An extension of the Jose Rizal State University will be brought to Siayan and will offer courses in agriculture and forestry.
LGU supported a summer reading camp conducted last July 7-August 14, 2020 for beginning and struggling readers. LGU partnered with the private sector in the distribution of Marungko booklets to beginning and struggling readers. A parents’ orientation on reading and drawing was held in parallel to the reading camp.
LGU facilitated a webinar for teachers on module development.
School supplies and food were given to learners
Synergeia will request copies of the learning modules and check these for consistency. We help LGUs which do not have modules yet by seeking Valenzuela’s permission to share the modules that it has already prepared. We will also coordinate with the LGUs and offer a systematic training of parents.
