For the past two years, students and teachers alike have been attending and teaching their classes online through platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With lowering positivity rates and decreasing number of cases, several schools are starting to welcome their students back to their campuses. In fact, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has approved 100% face-to-face (F2F) classes for schools located in areas under Alert Level 1.
Students are no longer limited to seeing their friends and classmates through the four corners of their devices, but rather, they can now see each other in person, as well as interact with each other and learn together in person – a format everyone missed dearly.
With the possibility of parts of the country being placed under Alert Level 0, loosening the restrictions and bringing classes back to 100% in-person would be beneficial to students as it promotes real-life interaction, improves social skills, and ensures that students are learning.
However, some students and parents have voiced out that they would rather retain the blended learning format because fully going back to F2F classes could pose health risks and increase the number of cases in the country. There are new waves of cases being reported in other countries, and they are placed in lockdown.
By following IATF rules, enforcing social distancing, and implementing a mask mandate, this problem can be solved. Additional measures like ensuring proper ventilation and disallowing parents, caregivers, drivers, and the like to wait for the students on school grounds could further lessen the possibility of spreading the virus.
Blended learning took away the freedom to interact with peers in real life, resulting in the loss of students’ social skills. Robyn Koslowitz, a clinical psychologist, said, “The past school year has been super challenging because kids have lost some social skills or emotional self-regulation skills.” Bringing back F2F classes would aid in relearning those social skills and developing cognitive skills.
According to an article published by National Geographic, “socialization is at the core of how children develop cognitive skills and other tasks that they’ll eventually need in adulthood, and they develop vital social skills when they’re around their peers.”
In 2019, the Philippines scored the lowest among 58 countries in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2019 (TIMSS), with 81% of Filipino students failing to reach the Low International Benchmark in Math, which means “some basic mathematical knowledge.” For Science, 87% failed to reach this level.
With the implementation of modular and online learning, teachers cannot ensure that their students master the lesson because their parents are now responsible for facilitating their learning. Some students don’t have anyone to help them, or some parents are unable to guide their children due to the lack of knowledge of the material and lesson.
The gaps in learning in the Philippines have especially been highlighted in distance learning, and by going back to F2F, some of these gaps could be resolved with the guidance of teachers. Bringing back F2F classes is also a way to ensure that learning is achieved; teachers are able to monitor their students’ progress as well as correct their mistakes in real-time. Seeing classmates and being able to learn alongside friends also is another bonus of this setup, as it also motivates students.
As Mrs. Helen Villanueva, principal of MGC New Life Christian Academy, said, it’s “such a great sight to behold seeing the students entering the school gates again.”
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