Fix distance learning woes, DepEd urged

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian issued an “urgent call” on Saturday for the Department of Education (DepEd) to address the prevailing problems confronting the distance learning methods used in the country’s schools, following a recent survey that showed that less than half of parents or guardians think children in basic education are learning under the present setup.

In a statement, Gatchalian said the Pulse Asia survey, conducted from Feb. 22 to March 3, added urgency for the government to deal with the deteriorating quality of education amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“While we are doing our best effort to continue our children’s education amid this pandemic, the survey reveals that many of our students are not learning under the distance learning methods, and even their parents are experiencing difficulty as well,” he said.

The survey, which had 1,200 adult respondents nationwide, showed that only 46 percent of parents or guardians said their children were learning, while 25 percent said their children were not learning.

Three out of 10 respondents, or 30 percent, could not say if their children were learning or not.

According to the respondents, students were having the most difficulty in answering self-learning modules.

The survey also supposedly said uneven application of learning methods across socioeconomic groups, as respondents from Class E manifested most difficulty (71 percent) in answering modules, compared to their peers from Class D (52 percent) and Class ABC (35 percent).