Parents as teachers at home? DepEd says they’re needed to ‘motivate’ kids

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday said parents do not necessarily need to take on the role of teachers to their children as it implements a home-based blended learning system due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Education Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said parents are needed mostly to motivate their children to study and to check if the students are doing their homework.

“Huwag natin isipin na kailangan ‘yung mismong magulang ay kailangang magturo, dahil ang isang skill na ating dinidevelop dito ay ‘yung self-learning skills ng mga bata,” he told a press briefing.

(Let us not think that parents should be the ones to teach their children because one of the skills we are trying to develop here is the ability of the children to learn by themselves.)

“Ang kadalasan, ang kailangan lang gawin ng ating mga magulang ay i-motivate ‘yung kanilang mga anak, i-check kung ginagawa nila ‘yung mga pag-aaral at takdang aralin at bigyan sila ng appropriate learning space sa mga tahanan nila,” he added.

(Most of the time, the parents will only have to motivate their children, check if they are doing their homework, and to provide them a learning space in their homes.)

Malaluan also noted that “we turn a page or chapter in this extraordinary year with this first day of classes.”

“We will face now this challenge of the learning process throughout the school year, and it will be a year of adjustment, feedback, learning victories, and challenges but we are confident that the resilience of the DepEd and our partners at all levels will see us through,” he said.

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Data from DepEd as of Sunday showed that 24.75 million students have enrolled for this school year. This represents 89 percent of the 27.85 million registered students in 2019.

DepEd also said that parents and guardians who are yet to enroll their children for School Year 2020-2021 may still do so until November 21.

KGA