Mindanaotoday.com | DepEd execs: Covid causes learning loss
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The closure of schools due to the pandemic which began in March of 2020 has resulted to learning loss, Department of Education (DepEd) officials said Wednesday, June 8.
But they are optimistic that learning loss, which refers to knowledge and skills students could have acquired if they were physically and regularly present in classrooms, can still be recovered.
“There are learning competencies that require physical activities in schools that were left behind,” said DepEd Assistant Schools Division Superintendent (ASDS) Erlinda Dael of Misamis Oriental in a Meet-the-Press forum of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club.
Dael said the reopening of schools for progressive face-to-face (F2F) classes in the province started March 1 this year and this was intended to recover learning loss among learners.
ASDS Lorebina Carrasco of Deped Cagayan de Oro Division Office agreed with Dael’s view on learning loss and that this is being addressed by the blended learning modalities.
These modalities include modular and online classes, reinforced by lessons discussed on radio and television, particularly for those who prefer lessons discussed on-air or on TV as part of distance learning modality.
“We started with limited face-to-face when the school year opened, now we’re into progressive face-to-face,” said Carrasco, and that 84 schools are now into F2F classes from 42 schools at the start of the school year.
Learning loss, she said, is apparent among enrolees in subjects under the Technical-Vocational-
The City Schools Division has allocated P100-million to recover from learning loss under its Learning Enrichment Program for the 127 public schools with 147,029 learners.
In Misamis Oriental, 17 public schools are still being evaluated prior to the issuance of school safety seals – indicating the educational institution is compliant with the Covid-19 health protocols.
“MOGCHS (Misamis Oriental General Comprehensive High School) just received their school safety seal last week,” Dael said, hinting that some classrooms have to be reconfigured.
She said they have to make sure seats are at least a meter apart and every classroom can accommodate 15 to 20 learners, on the average.
MOGCHS, which is situated in Cagayan de Oro’s urban area is under the Misamis Oriental Schools Division, has the most number of enrolees among public secondary schools in Mindanao, often exceeding 10,000 learners.
As of March 1, this year, 404 out of 421 public schools in Misamis Oriental had received their school safety seals and had been holding F2F classes.
Both Dael and Carrasco clarified that DepEd alone does not decide on whether a particular school may hold F2F classes.
Aside from the school safety assessment checklist, validation for safety seal issuance is done by the local inter-agency task force with the local health office.
Once the school gets the go-signal of the local IATF, still the schools concerned must secure parents’ consent allowing their kids to attend F2F classes.
Both DepEd officials said schools, allowed to hold F2F classes, cannot deny any learner from enrolling and attending in-person classes even without Covid-19 vaccine. But full-vaccination is mandatory to all teachers in F2F classes.
DepEd Misamis Oriental Budget Officer Mark Lorren Tejado said the education department has already included face mask, alcohol, disinfectant and other Covid-19-related items in the budget this year.
Tejano said school heads have also been directed to identify an isolation room just in case there learners who exhibit Covid-19-like symptoms, install foot-baths, set-up hand-washing areas, and put in place entry and exit points with signages.
He said the pandemic also multi-tasked non-teaching DepEd personnel, serving as health educators, contact-tracers, and para-nurses and have to be trained in other skills, other than their official functions.
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