(Eagle News) — Senators questioned the Department of Education’s readiness for the opening of classes on August 24, saying not enough teachers have been trained so far for the “new normal” of distance and blended learning.
In the hearing of of the Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture , Senators Francisco Tolentino and Sherwin Gatchalian noted that teacher training for online and blended learning is being done hastily and only 40 percent of the teachers so far have been reached by the training.
Tolentino particularly “questioned the department’s ability to train all of its teachers on distance learning on time before the start of the school year.”
-Tolentino says only 40% of public school teachers have been trained for online teaching-
During the hearing. Tolentino revealed that only 337,486 public school teachers have been trained by DepEd’s Information, Communications Technology Service (ICTS) on Information and Communication Technology-based instruction.
“The figure is just about 40 percent of the total public school teaching population of more than 800,000. Malapit na po iyong August 24 school opening so paano po ito?” Tolentino asked the DepEd.
“Kung ready na po iyong 40 percent, papaano po iyong 60 percent?” he added.
DepEd said they will still train the remaining 60 percent of the teachers by July. Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said that this includes how to convert materials into e-books.
-Concern on surge of enrollees from private schools-
Tolentino also expressed concern about the surge of enrollees coming from private schools, as well as the effectivity of its training module for teachers
“Hindi pa po natin napag-uusapan yung bilang ng mangagaling ng private schools, at yung content ng training module for teachers,” he said.
Tolentino even questioned if teachers can teach students on what to do if their computers bog down.
DepEd said that they will submit the content of their training programs for teachers.
Senator Gatchalian also questioned the readiness of teachers for online or blended learning.
Citing findings of the Asia Foundation research, he said “only 12 percent of teachers are trained for alternative delivery mode.”
That means only 1 out of 10 teachers have been trained for online learning, the senator said.
-Gatchalian, Binay point out loopholes-
“This pandemic has demonstrated that our teachers are not equipped and trained in terms of distance learning… Nakita natin na ngayon lang natin ginagawa ito. And doing so in haste is not the best way. we will leave a lot of detials and we wil not get the full optimum level of teaching if we do it in haste,” Gatchalian said.
Senator Nancy Binay also asked the DepEd if they already have done mapping with regards to areas where online teaching can be effective.
DepEd said that it has not yet done so, since the COVID-19 pandemic was not expected.
The department officials said that they can only do such mapping as the school year progresses. They said that this is already included in the survey for enrollment, on which effective learning modality is preferred by students.
There are, so far, 13.8 million learners who have enrolled for the next school year.
“Pero hindi po ba dapat ngayon pa lang, meron na po tayong mapping? Kasi yung training na gagawin sa teachers angkop doon sa kakayahan ng lugar e,” Binay said citing certain areas in the country like Bukidnon and Cordillera where the internet signal is weak.
“So why would we train our teachers for an online way of teaching our kids when, alam naman natin na mukhang mahirap yung ganoong klase ng pagtuturo? So di ba dapat, the limited resources na nga, dapat very targeted yung way of training our teachers, the way we are preparing our materials?” she asked.
Binay also said that the mapping of areas marking areas with weak internet or online connectivity should already be identified at this time, as the kind of training for teachers in those areas would depend on their connectivity situation.
“Kung ngayon pa lang tayo nag-ma-mapping, hindi magiging targeted yung resources na meron tayo,” she stressed.
-Senate Bill 1460 to prepare country for online learning-
The hearing also tackled Tolentino’s Senate Bill No. 1460, which seeks to develop a national education policy framework for online or broadcast learning delivery amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Tolentino said the measure seeks to expand the basic education curriculum by increasing the functions of the Bureau of Learning Delivery to include distance education and online learning.
“The purpose of the bill is to integrate existing effort, which are relatively scattered today. So the functions of existing bureaus, such as the Bureau of Learning Delivery, BS Services and ICTS, will now be more or less integrated into just one bureau, to make it more sustainable,” said Tolentino.
He said the bureau will address science-based concerns and adapt to technological changes, among others.
Based on an international study, Tolentino said the preparation for the proper implementation of distance learning would take around six to nine months.
DepEd Undersecetary Diosdado San Antonio said the department still aims to provide needed training for the remaining 60 percent of teachers.
“Aside from the training, there are also local initiatives from the division offices, regional offices where the teachers are also being given training activities,” San Antonio said.
(Eagle News Service)
