MISSION POSSIBLE

Various initiatives gear up Sarangani youth for new normal learning

by AJ Lozano

Education must continue.

In a press release, Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said that “in the midst of the Coronavirus crisis… Education must continue whether face-to-face or virtual, with or without physically going to school.”

This quote lived true in Sarangani Province as various initiatives were put up in order to prepare Sarangan youth in adjusting to the new normal way of learning.

In the Know

In order to pursue its “Education must continue,” mantra, the Department of Education proposed five different learning modalities in its Learning Continuity Plan: Online Distance Learning, Blended Learning, Modular Distance Learning, Radio-Based Instruction, and TV-based Instruction.

Access for All

On June 27, the Schools Division Office of Sarangani Province (SDO-Sarangani) launched its innovation called LR on WHEeLS, which stands for Learning Resources on WiFi Hub for Expanded e-Learning in Sarangani, which aims to makes e-learning possible for more Sarangan learners, even in the areas where there is little to no cellular and internet connection.

Moreover, the LR on WHEeLS provides learners with intranet connection which gives them access to learning modules, quizzes, and activities without the need of internet access.

Based on the survey conducted by the SDO-Sarangani, 50% of Sarangan learners have access to gadgets, while only 40% of these learners are connected to the Internet, and they claimed that through LR on WHEeLS the remaining 60% of learners can also be given access to e-learning.

Further, according to a report from DepEd- Sarangani, a single LR on WHEeLS package could cater about 200-500 learners within a 500m radius.

Furthermore, DepEd- Sarangani aims to install the learning packages in target communities by November this year.

Radio Learning Made Possible

Aside from the LR on WHEeLS project, Sarangani youth leaders also lead the ‘Radyo para sa Baryo’ fundraising campaign in order to assist Sarangan learners and provide them with radio units in order to appease their distance learning needs.

Moreover, the project seeks to attain its goal to gather Php 200,000 in order to buy and provide 1000 transistor radio units to learners in the province’s far-flung barrios.

Notably, in Sarangani Province alone, 0.38% of enrollees chose Radiobased instruction as their primary learning modality for the upcoming school year.

In an interview with Radyo para sa Baryo Project Head, Rhoda Mae Ebad, she believed that even though there is the modular modality, it would be best for students if they will have their own radio unit so they can listen to their teachers “kasi marami din sa kanila ang mga dependent learners and their parents cannot teach them.”

Ebad also exclaimed that in Radyo para sa Baryo, their goal is to make the barrio-kids feel that they are not alone in this fight.

Upskilling Parents

Additionally, in the mission to bring learning straight to the home of every learner, parents are expected to be the mentors that will guide the students in their distance learning pursuits.

Since 2014, the Conrado and Ladislawa Alcantara Foundation, Inc.(CLAFI) conducts parent mentoring activities in order to orient parents with methods and strategies on how they could teach the lessons to their children.

“Isinasagawa naming ang parent mentoring upang matulungan ang Department of Education na maibigay ang kalidad na edukasyon sa mga kabataan,” April Mae Domingo, CLAFI Project Officer shared in an interview with DepEd Dose sa Ere.

Domingo stated that through parent mentoring parents will be encouraged to let their children learn and go to school, and she also claimed that it would be beneficial since parents should be the school’s partners in educating a child.

No One Left Behind

In a statement with the Division Information Officer of DepEd-Sarangani, Ariel Lalisan expressed that the initiatives of DepEd Sarangani to make learning continue in spite of the pandemic are important because “education must not stop.”

He also voiced out that the modalities implemented in Sarangani are those that are best suited to the situations of households and communities and those that are considered safe for both the learners and the teachers.

“These are really difficult times but we have to do something for the sake of the future of our Sarangan learners,” Lalisan asserted as he boasted the significance of initiatives made around Sarangani Province in order to recognize distance learning and new normal education a ‘Mission Possible’.