COLUMN ISDANG NALULUNOD: Student's Circumstances amidst Pandemic - Kimberlie Anne S. Austria
In our childhood days, we can often hear the phrase "isdang nalulunod" that is used in local chants and corny jokes. Well, we all knew that fish only survives underwater, and but canit really be drowned with what's keeping it alive in the first place? According to an article written by Alison Yang in 2021, fish are very capable of drowning in lowoxygen environments. But technically speaking, the correct term for what occurs wouldn't be "drowning." What happens is closer to the act of suffocating, especially when changes are made in its environment. This stance is similar to what's happening now to students who are forced to a new environment, wherein learning depreciates, causing the loss of the supposed competencies acquired, causing students to drown on their own tank. Students are meant to flourish, be flexible, and adapt wherever he is. This is emphasized in this pandemic, where studying is transitioned from face-to-face classes to online learning. From Page 6
an ocean where fishes can freely swim, they are caught and placed into small tanks, and not every fish is able to adapt. With the online set-up, the students are flooded with various activities that they mostly cannot understand how it will help them in the "reality" of life – the life after school, as elders say. University Business conducted a survey last June 2020 after school closes due to the rising cases of COVID-19. The results show that 75% of the 2500 college students respondents reported feeling more anxious or stressed due to online learning. In line with this, school closures have been associated with an increase in dropout rates and a deterioration in literacy. According to the World Bank, the number of children aged ten and below in lowand middleincome countries who are unable to read simple text has climbed from 53% prior to the pandemic to 70% today. With this situation, what more can we do? Should we just standby and let our students drown in tons of activities without the actual learning? We can't expect a progressive society with competitive graduates if this continues. Teachers who understand students' situations are calling the government to open schools THE EQUILIBRIUM
without compromising the students' health since this pandemic is nowhere near its end. We have to learn to swim but in an appropriate environment suitable for learners. This is the only way to address the suffocation of learning and make students dive deeper in clearer water where they can express their talents and abilities eradicating limits.
Living in Agony: The System’s Transition - -Michelle F. Bengero
I always wonder how the world will look ten years after I was ten years old. A child full of dreams and questions. It mesmerized watching movies with a genre of the age of civilization and modernization. How airplanes are made, how robots can talk, how trashcan can segregate biodegradable to nonbiodegradable—fascinating. But as I walked one sunny afternoon —my dreams felt so far and impossible. Covid-19 strike, March 16, 2021, 2 confirmed cases. I was in the middle of cleaning chairs and having a good time with my classmates— first-year Bachelor of Secondary Education major in English— young and bold. bold. I am doing good at school, and I am a
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