The Band-Aid Solution

The Band-Aid Solution by Raye Angelique Y. Bongabong

We usually cover a wound with a band-aid in hopes of speeding up the healing process. However, without addressing and applying medicine to the wound first, the bandage’s effectiveness is lessened—just like the student-centric call for an academic freeze.

Last August 14, 2020, Secretary of Education Leonor Briones announced the postponement of the opening of classes for the school year 2020-2021 from August 24 to October 5, 2020. The postponement was put in effect to ensure the readiness of the materials and facilities needed for the school year. Distance learning will still be implemented due to the unavailability of COVID-19 vaccines as ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte. Several schools have already started online classes and students have experienced first-hand how ineffective and demanding online classes are. Thus, the hashtags #AcademicFreezeNOW and #NoStudentLeftBehind were brought into existence and were constantly the trending topics in social media.

The Call for #AcademicFreezeNOW

The problem of pushing through online classes despite the less-favorable conditions our country has all boiled down to privilege. Thousands of students have called for an academic freeze due to the fact that not all are privileged enough to own gadgets, to access a stable internet connection, and to live in a home environment that is conducive for learning.

Since the first announcement of the opening of classes, social media platforms were swarmed with countless posts from students posting their GCash accounts to ask for donations so that they can purchase gadgets and books. Students were not the only ones to do so as teachers and parents also posted online in desperation. Online classes are already hard but it is harder in a country with an unstable and expensive internet service. The cost of modems, routers, and weekly load promos coupled with the unavailability of internet signals in rural areas prevents underprivileged students from attending online classes. Not all are privileged to live in a home environment that has non-existent distractions and spaces where students can study in peace. The workload of a normal school year jam-packed in weekly sessions is detrimental to the mental and emotional health of students as the boundary between home, a place of rest, and school, a place for learning, blurs, and is combined in the worst way possible. Not everyone can easily adapt to this difficult situation while living in difficult and traumatic times.

Not to mention, tuition fees in private schools and universities are burdens for families who are greatly affected financially by COVID-19. Paying huge amounts of money for an education that is subpar due to limitations doesn’t sit well with a lot of students.

All of these reasons hold truths but the problem is, the call for an academic freeze is purely student-centric. It invalidates the struggles of teachers and school staff whose jobs are in jeopardy due to the pandemic. In the long run, an academic freeze might even bring more harm than good.

#NoStudentLeftBehind?

There is little to no possibility that we can resume face-to-face classes immediately after the end of an academic break. Just like what President Duterte stated back last July 27, 2020, he won’t allow face-to-face teaching and learning until a COVID-19 vaccine is available. If we implement an academic freeze and wait idly until a vaccine is produced, who knows when we can actually resume classes? It might even take us more than a year of waiting to resume classes and in between the waiting, students might not even entertain the thought of enrolling in the next school year anymore.

The pandemic has dealt a big blow on the financial status of families as employers had to lay off countless employees due to the lack of operations in quarantine. Students might abandon their studies entirely to help their families get back on their feet after the pandemic. This is even more difficult for graduating students who are their family’s potential breadwinner after their education and their family’s only hope to get them out of poverty. Instead of graduating and securing a degree that can help them find promising jobs, they might drop their studies and settle with a job that pays less to keep their family afloat. If implemented, an academic freeze will only cause a deficiency in the workforce due to the lack of graduating students.

Invalidating the Academe

The notion of an academic freeze is student-centric and overlooks the needs of teachers, staff, and schools. Students seem to forget that the problems that they are facing right now are also felt by their teachers. On top of that, the majority of teachers are not tech-savvy and have to learn how to operate their online classrooms. It seems unfair for students to invalidate the struggles of their teachers who are also just victims of our unfortunate circumstances. An indefinite academic freeze will cost them their jobs which have already been greatly affected by the pandemic.

An indefinite period with no enrollees will cause many schools to close. With no inflow of money in their system, they only have a limited amount of money that they have to use to sustain their staff and facilities. When that limited amount of money cannot sustain the school anymore, the possibility of laying off teachers and staff will sadly become a reality. Schools will be forced to shut down and with their limited amount of funds, reopening after the pandemic will be far-fetched.

We must remember that these teachers and staff have families to support. If they are unemployed, how can they support the education of their children? Are they secure enough to ensure the education of their children even after an indefinite time frame? Will there truly be no student left behind if their children will be struggling after the academic freeze?

The Supremacy of #LigtasNaBalikEskwela

In these unfortunate times, people shouldn’t be pointing fingers and instead internalize that we are all victims of the pandemic. We are all doing our best with what we’ve got despite the unfavorable situation. However, we must realize that the best plan of action is to resume face-to-face classes. There are so many subjects and courses that just cannot be simply taught through online classes. How will this be possible, you ask? It’s just simply amplified mass testing and contact tracing.

Mass testing and contact tracing are essential in identifying asymptomatic carriers, prevent presymptomatic transmissions, and isolate positive cases and other people they’ve been in close contact with. These methods will help in isolating and quarantining positive cases until they have fully recovered from the virus. Mass testing and contract tracing partnered with strict health and safety protocols in school will be the best way to continue the school year safely without sacrificing the quality of education. Not only will this help the sector of education, but it can help all sectors across our country to be able to return to how things were without any anxiety about the virus.

Amplified mass testing and contact tracing will take a huge amount of time to accomplish and in that indefinite time frame, we can implement an academic freeze given that mass testing and contact tracing will be administered nationwide. #LigtasNaBalikEskwela is more effective and inclusive compared to its student-centric counterpart, #AcademicFreezeNOW.

We must always be reminded that our main concern is to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country and that is the wound that we should be addressing. Without applying mass testing and contact tracing first, the academic freeze initiative will be just a simple, flimsy, and ineffective Band-Aid. We all deserve a solution that protects the welfare and safety of all Filipinos. Enough with the band-aid solutions! We deserve to let our wounds heal.