Challenges of education

Just recently, my household help asked me if she can borrow money so that she can buy his son a tablet that he can use once school starts in August.

Since she does not know what tablet to buy, I volunteered to order for her online. But I made her promise not to use it for gaming or other uses but instead utilize it exclusively for her son’s online schooling.

I can just imagine the problem being faced by many parents who now have to look for funds to buy their kids a smart phone, a tablet, or a computer just to be able to participate in distance learning which the Department of Education has adopted as a means for Filipino students to continue studying beginning Aug. 24 amidst the pandemic.

But are our teachers and students ready? I, for one, have been teaching for 14 years now but this online teaching which we have been conducting in law school since May has been really challenging on so many fronts. First we have to prepare a new set of content that we can deliver online. Second, we have to master the use of learning management systems such as Google Classroom and video call apps like Zoom and Google Meet. Third, we have to unlearn what we have been doing for so many years, including using the Socratic method, and then utilize other methods of teaching appropriate for online platforms like discussion forums, chats, among others. As we go along, we experience problems like students having poor internet connection to none, the inability to call on students for recitation, cheating during examinations which is very easy to do with some students sharing their answers with one another via Viber or Messenger or simply by text messaging, among others.

David Lim, president of MySolid Tech, a company under publicly listed Solid Group, has come up with a great idea which he has shared with President Duterte. Solid Group has been in the businesses of mobile devices, consumer electronics, cable and satellite services, and other products including the system integration work of the international broadcast centers of events like APEC and the SEA Games.

His proposal for a National Distance Learning System aims to resume schooling nationwide while minimizing the risk of virus infection, present the best practices for teaching to help students learn more and for local teachers to enhance their skills, maintain the teaching of Department of Education standard curriculum without compromise, and provide this equally to all students anywhere in the country quickly and at a fraction of the cost of the proposed blended online program.

In his letter, David emphasized that they aim to enable Grade 1 to 12 students to attend daily classes by watching a direct-to-home broadcast (DTH) dedicated to transmitting live broadcasts of model teachers teaching daily lessons of their DepEd accredited grade level curriculum. Since the proposed system uses satellite signals, he explained that it will reach everywhere in the country and one only needs electricity, a television, and a receiver box to watch the classes safely at home. This means no service area limitations, no additional cost for internet use, cost of software for online applications, and no need for tablets or laptops.

The new system, called Knowledge Exchange, will allocate each grade level its own channel, each channel featuring live classes from a studio where the model teacher teaches the scheduled subject just like a normal school day.

The DTH satellite signals, he pointed out, cover the entire country. The operation of the production studios and DTH broadcast can be managed by the appropriate government broadcast entity authorized so that DepEd can focus on selecting and ensuring the model teacher’s performance and curriculum content. This can also be overseen by the Department of Information and Communications Technology to ensure quick start-up and sustainable operations.

Once traditional school is allowed, the system can be integrated into the physical classroom set-up.

With a potential reach of more than 24 million students, Lim said this will create a virtual National Broadcast Network that can broadcast expanded education services like college or masteral degrees or additional services like weather and news alerts, skills training and entrepreneurship, among others. It can also be self-sustaining in the sense that paid advertisements can be allowed.

The proposed program will require a one-time cost of P50 billion to acquire the receiver boxes and dishes for 25 million household for 100 percent student coverage as well as a P200 million investment to build 12 state-of-the-art production facilities.

This is a lot cheaper if one considers that a system of similar nationwide impact using blended programs, online programs and radio broadcasts will require at least P200 billion to equip students with a basic tablet device and several billions more to adapt the DepEd standard curriculum for online use, software licenses, and provide internet access.

In a TV interview, Lim explained that he has heard of various proposals being presented to the President on using tablets, internet, and worse of all radio which is 1950s technology, when the best technology is here, and that is direct TV which is one of the best means of reaching as many, considering that 90 percent of homes here have TVs. With direct TV, all you need is electricity, TV, and a set-top box which can cost as low as P1,500, much cheaper than tablets, he said.

He noted that since his company, MyPhone, is also producing tablets, he has been getting a lot of calls from LGUs, even churches, since his tablets are priced low. But he said he is worried since having worked from home for the last two years with his team because of the traffic situation, there is not one meeting where he got a decent connectivity. “You are giving these kids a tablet but they will not get to enjoy the lessons,” he stressed.

For comments, e-mail at [email protected]