Online learning challenge

In recent weeks I’ve been reacquainted with a form of childhood entertainment: the radio horror drama “Gabi ng Lagim” (announced in a deep, chilling male voice, followed by a dog’s howl of owwooooo…)

The Night of Horror radio show, now on 666 kHz station dzRH, usually precedes President Duterte’s weekly or fortnightly address to the nation on the country’s pandemic response.

Considering all the suffering people have had to endure in the past three months, it’s fitting that Duterte’s speeches, which I usually catch in my car on my way home from work, are preceded by “Gabi ng Lagim” from 11 to 11:30 p.m.

Last Monday, however, the President’s address came much later than usual, near midnight, so “Gabi ng Lagim” was already over.

Still, Cebu businessmen must be having nightmares over the return of their city to the strictest enhanced community quarantine as cases of coronavirus disease 2019 spike. At least Metro Manila isn’t returning to ECQ, and will instead remain under general community quarantine for another two weeks. It’s bad news for the mass transport sector, but health experts fear a COVID-19 spike if GCQ is relaxed in Metro Manila.

What struck me was the dire picture that emerged in the education sector. Duterte, who talked after the announcement on the quarantines, said he was considering the provision of transistor radios costing about P300 in low-income communities with no internet access, for students’ use in blended learning.

He issued the statement following a briefing about the underwhelming enrollment for the 2020-2021 schoolyear, whose opening remains set on Aug. 24.

Many parents apparently aren’t ready to send their children back to school in two months – whether physically or virtually from home. They’re probably worried that kids – especially the younger ones – can’t be made to constantly observe physical distancing, wear masks or wash their hands regularly while in school.

And for schools that will shift to online learning, the reaction of many parents and students is short and simple: they can’t.

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The obstacles have been reported. One is the lack of internet connectivity. The monthly basic postpaid home WiFi service fee is a minimum of P999 – still a hefty sum for millions of households.

For many parents, giving each of their school-age children a cell phone is a luxury their families can’t afford. Computers? Out of the question. A grade schooler I know who excels in Robotics in a private school uses an Android phone with basic features, but his parents simply can’t afford even a low-end tablet or laptop. A household has too many other urgent expenses, and incomes are tight in this pandemic.

The government is supposed to provide free WiFi, but the service is spotty even in Metro Manila. The widespread use of digital technology for many activities amid the quarantine is showing the inadequacy of our digital infrastructure. Even with the use of top-of-the-line gadgets and expensive service packages, connection glitches abound and the quality of audio and video leaves much to be desired.

If even the broadcast networks are having trouble with connectivity during livestreaming sessions, how can we hope to conduct classes efficiently online?

Even for e-commerce, online money transfers through banks accredited by the government don’t move quickly enough. Payments can take nearly an entire day to process digitally before being accepted, by which time a person would have already incurred a fee for late payment.

Providing reliable connectivity should be the task of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, but there is concern that DICT officials aren’t up to the challenge.

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One problem if the school opening is deferred for a year, as a number of parents are suggesting, is what will happen to the teachers.

With no earnings from tuition and other fees, private schools cannot keep paying their teachers for a year. Even the government can provide only limited subsidies before it is forced to resort to no work, no pay.

There are few alternative job openings for teachers overseas; hundreds of thousands of Filipino workers are coming home after losing their jobs abroad because of the pandemic, and the number is expected to keep rising.

As one senator put it recently, something is better than nothing – meaning, as a compromise to save jobs, we may have to live with the possibility that there are children, mostly from less privileged families, who will be left behind in formal education.

The question is how many are such children. If they constitute the majority of the student population, is it a good idea?

Certain schools can handle blended learning for all their students. These schools usually have a few underprivileged children who are on scholarships, but they can be easily subsidized by the school so the students can keep up with their peers. We know this is not the case for many of our schools. In some areas, even electricity service is spotty or non-existent.

Even that transistor radio plan is hampered by the lack of funds – as the President himself and his spokesman have admitted. Under this plan, school lessons will be imparted through community radio stations, which in some rural areas serve as the only information mass medium.

Perhaps certain pilot areas can be identified for this experiment in distance learning. If it works, it could save teaching jobs, and help narrow the gap between students with the means and those without.

As for the other modes of learning, we’ll see if the senator turns out right: with all the hard choices in this pandemic, something could be better than nothing.