BAGUIO CITY – The City Council, during last Monday’s regular session, invited officials of the regional and district offices of the Department of Education to enlighten city officials and the people on the upcoming implementation of the blended learning strategy for schoolyear 2020-2021 in aid of legislation.
In a resolution, local legislators stated that even with the assurance of the agency that education of the students shall continue even without the information and communication technology (ICT) gadege4ts required for the virtual classes, there is still continuous doubt and apprehension on the part of the students and parents, particularly those from the low-income bracket who fear that their children cannot cope with the requirements of the new scheme.
Under the blended learning devised by the agency to push through with the next schoolyear, the scheme is a combination of face to face learning, online and modular classes which raised alarm among students and parents primarily because of the prevalence of weak internet signals, inability to purchase the gadgets required for the said classes and the heavy impact of the wrath of the Corona Virus Disease (COVID) 2019 to the employment and income of the people.
According to the local legislative body, education shall now become a shared activity where parents are expected to guide their children in the lessons, because some, if not all of the same, will be done at home but parents feel that they are not equipped for the job.
Earlier, the education department announced that the opening of classes will be on August 24, 2020 and took the necessary steps to prepare for the blended learning scheme for schoolyear 2020-2021.
The council stipulated that the education department should embark on an aggressive information and education campaign to allow local officials and the people to understand the various modes of blended learning and avoid unnecessary conclusions that tend to create confusion among the populace.
At present, enrollment for the schoolyear 2020-2021 is now underway this June where a simultaneous survey is being undertaken by the education department to ascertain the needs of the students and the available means of communication to guide policymakers and decision-makers in ironing out the blended learning scheme that will be implemented in certain areas of the country.
The council claimed that the city’s people and officialdom are still in a quandary on what will be the scenario once the blended learning scheme will be implemented, thus, the need for city officials to be educated about it for them to help in cascading to the grassroots level the advantages of the new learning strategy to keep students from contracting the dreaded COVID-19.
Local legislators agreed on the need to implement blended learning in the next schoolyear as it will be part of the new normal situation that will be implemented while scientists are still developing the vaccine that will cure the deadly virus that is now wreaking havoc in the world..
Expected to appear during the council’s next regular session are Regional Director May Eclar and City Division Schools Superintendent Marie Carolyn Verano.
By Dexter A. See
