Written By: Jimson Getanis
NO STUDENTS LEFT BEHIND. Different programs now can conduct their face-to-face classes while there are other courses that are left behind. Photo released by Rappler.
The quality of Philippine education has decreased enormously. Covid-19 transformed the approach to education as well as its system. College programs requiring hand-to-hand experience as part of their curriculum are prioritized for reopening face-to-face classes. “Paano naman kami?” question of communication students knowing that AB communication programs are one of those who don’t need hand-to-hand experience like laboratory activities specifically to lower years.
Medical fields or health-related programs are the first to conduct limited face-to-face by most colleges and universities. For example, BS in Nursing, BS in Medical Laboratory Science, BS in Midwifery, and BS in Physical Therapy. They need to conduct face-to-face classes because of different exercises, lab experiments, and hands-on activities in their curriculum. Hence, all students suffer from the alteration brought by the coronavirus. Other countries succeed in continuing face-to-face classes in the middle of the pandemic, which allows them to maintain the quality of education they want for their students. Like Japan, Sweden, and Israel, countries that go back to school in the middle of the pandemic year 2020 (Spires, 2020). They had a different approach even for each of the schools that reopened their classes to maintain the safety of the students as they went back to their classrooms.
According to CHED, Universities and colleges should apply first for inspections before conducting face-to-face to keep everyone safe. It is not required and it’s the school’s decision if they will apply or not at the moment. But when will be the right time to apply? CHED itself should require every school to apply so that everyone will always be ready. Online classes will produce two years of college graduates, and it is alarming what kind of capacity or preparedness these graduates have.
First-year communication majors said it is necessary to conduct face-to-face classes with or without having the curriculum on lab and hands-on activities. Personal interaction with professors and teachers will make communication more effective and impactful. A study said interaction encourages learning. Activities conducted during face-to-face classes engage students more in lessons than online activities. Another factor is the presence of classmates during discussion time or study time, which has another impact on the learning process of a college student.
March 2022, when CHED reported about 303 colleges and universities started conducting face-to-face. From 25,000 average COVID cases down to 200 moderate COVID cases per day, the previous three months show a significant improvement in the decreasing number of daily cases. March 15, 2022, when alert level 1 was implemented—allowing a venue’s total capacity for the fully vaccinated individual still consistent up to this day. Because of this, the reopening of classes in grades 1-10 from selected public schools in April 2022 was successful.
College students are firmly convinced to have their COVID vaccine regardless of their course or program. With or without the approach of the possibility of face-to-face classes, surveys are regularly sent to identify the number of vaccinated students. Health and safety protocols still must be the top priority of schools and universities. But why are grade schools with an age range of 6-16 years old able to go back inside their classrooms and still most college students, commonly 18 and above, under BA programs and others, still hoping despite the fact that the Commission on Higher Education already gave the advisory for face-to-face classes for all college programs.
College degrees bring everyone to their field of interest and passion. Since COVID-19 responses have become more effective, the educational system must go with the flow of improvement. The support and actions from the government still have colossal steps to get up from the current situation. College students must be the ones to be prioritized when it comes to the reopening of face-to-face classes despite their curriculum or their program. The quality of education they need under their respective programs has already been corrupted for two years. Under this level of education are the following doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, journalists, and more. To sum up, future professionals and workers of the Philippines. Universities and colleges will continue to operate to the best of their ability. But it is, the loss and deficiency of students’ preparedness weaken their knowledge and skills to become globally competitive workers someday.
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