MANILA, Philippines — The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) blames the lack of tutorial support at home for the emergence of several online cheating groups on Facebook.
ACT sounded the alarm a week after more than 26 million learners resumed online classes on Sept. 13.
READ: SY 2021 – 22 enrolees breach 26.3 M mark — DepEd
One of the public groups was brazenly named “Online Kopyahan” (online cheating), which attracted nearly 700,000 followers before it became inaccessible over the weekend.
Online Kopyahan was filled with posts of modules and test papers with answers.
Another Facebook called “Online Kopyahan (2),” which had more than 71,000 members, as of this writing.
Some of the group members recruit other students through Facebook group chats, where they also share their answers.
Similar groups under similar names have also come out, but most of them were set to private, meaning only members can see their posts.
No support at home
“Most of our students have nobody with them at home knowledgeable enough to help them. This situation only shows the failure of the system,” ACT Secretary-General Raymond Basilio told INQUIRER.net in Filipino over the weekend.
“Based on a survey last year, the majority of students said their modules were not really self-learning and that they needed help to understand the contents of the modules so that they could answer the activity sheets,” he added.
A survey released by Movement for Safe, Equitable, Quality and Relevant Education (SEQuRe Education Movement) revealed that most students have learned less under remote learning.
The SeQuRe survey revealed that over half of those survey said they learned less under those alternative modes of instruction as compared with the traditional in-classroom setup. Specifically, those who said this were 86.7% of students under modular learning, 66% of those under online learning, and 74% of those under blended learning (a mix of learning modalities).
Most parents also found it “more difficult” to guide their children under the new setup — that is, 62% of parents with children under online learning, 70% of those with children under blended learning, and 77% of those with children under modular learning.
The survey was conducted from June 25 to July 2, 2021 — that is, towards the end of the first school year under the distance learning setup. The respondents were 1,299 students in grades four to 12 and 3,172 parents, mostly from Metro Manila.
Asked for comment, Diosdado San Antonio, education undersecretary for curriculum and instruction, said the Department of Education (DepEd) would soon release a statement.
Solution
Basilio said that the DepEd would need to formulate a “real” self-learning module and bolster its Learner Support Aide (LSA) program.
According to DepEd, an LSA “will work together in collaboration with teachers and contribute to the provision of learning opportunities that promote achievement and progression of learners.”
Basilio also reiterated their call to resume the classes in areas with a low risk of COVID-19 infection.
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