MANILA, Philippines — More than 6,000 educational TV and radio shows are ready to be aired all over the country, as distance learning in public schools begins on Monday amid the continuing threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an official of the Department of Education (DepEd).
Undersecretary Tonisito Umali said the programs would complement online and modular lessons, which would be the norm as the government has prohibited in-person classes.
He said the DepEd had a system to help parents and students with the many challenges that came with distance learning.
Public school classes had been postponed for two months to give educators more time to prepare for the new modes of instruction and learning.
Supplement to online class
A total of 24.7 million students enrolled in public and private schools this year, or 89 percent of enrollees in the previous school year.
Umali said 3,120 television lessons and 3,445 radio episodes would be aired in 207 television channels and 162 radio stations nationwide.
“That will supplement the instruction that would be given online, or if there is no access to gadgets or the internet, or through self-learning modules,” he said at Saturday’s Laging Handa news briefing.
Umali said the DepEd had advised school superintendents and regional directors which episodes should be shown on a given day, at what time slots, and for which grade levels.
The information on these shows should also be included in the weekly learning plan for the students, Umali said.
He said the DepEd would check if students understood the lessons, adding that teachers would know—when students return their activity sheets—if they have learned what was taught. Parents would also be given contact numbers of teachers if they need to call about their children having difficulty with their lessons, he said.
If parents could not get the self-learning modules themselves, the DepEd would find a way to deliver them to the students.
As of the third week of September, the DepEd has distributed more than 533 million self-learning modules, or 80 percent of the target.
Umali said the DepEd would be flexible with students who had difficulty with internet connection.