Only time can tell

On September 13, 2021, classes for SY 2021-2022 will open in public schools nationwide, approved by President Rodrigo R. Duterte. Again the students will be using a blended learning modality, the Self Learning Kits (SLKs) or modules, and online class.

For the second year since the pandemic has begun, the parents will flock to the schools like students not to get report cards but to get printed modules and textbooks. Even behind masks, one can sense parents' emotions like joy, excitement, enthusiasm, fear, and sadness. With them, plastic envelopes contain the materials while others have free appealing envelopes.

Time and again, teachers will travel to remote areas on foot to hand the learning materials personally unmindful of the distance, risks of the rugged roads, and unfamiliar terrain.

Parents are full of anticipation and hope that finally, after vacation, the students can have something productive to work on at home to improve academic learning. Others will begin to feel stress again to count several modules to answer within a week. It is a big challenge for parents to budget time assisting students while doing household chores and regular work.

DepEd has spent billions on these printed learning materials last school year. Teachers spent sleepless nights reproducing such materials by crafting, encoding, editing, printing, sorting, labeling, and packing them. Schools have a unique and attractive way of distributing these learning materials. Some will use a caravan and others will go on house-to-house visits observing health protocols.

The distance learning modality using the printed modules will provide the parents with a window of opportunity to review the basic education program of the department. These will give them first-hand information about what is being taught by the teachers in the schools. Parents will have ideas of how relevant and timely are the compressed competencies and skills to life. The result is regarded as a benchmark to determine the quality of education the country has.

The next few months are crucial to determine the success of this program. In the learning process, parents' cooperation and support, teachers' careful monitoring and assessments of the outputs, students' self-discipline and attitude will play significant roles.

And whether this modality of teaching is effective under the present condition many are optimistic, for skeptics only time can tell!