Interrupted learning

In the past two years, students worldwide have battled with anxiety and perhaps even uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Our job as educators begins with understanding that, in order for us to mitigate the impact of any crisis, we must understand that interrupted learning intensifies issues on inequality that include gender, economic, nutritional and even political factors that continue to put our learners at risk.

Last Monday, VP and Secretary of Education Sara Duterte visited a school in North Cotabato that showed a serious decline in class attendance due to a shooting incident, leaving one student dead and two others wounded. To be specific, the dropout rate in this school was pegged at 65 percent and simply put, students are afraid to return to their classrooms. While indeed we find ourselves in the midst of a global crisis, locally, we must keep our eyes focused on what educators know globally as the culture of peace and, in the case of education, it is absolutely necessary and crucial for all of us to continue rallying behind this culture in order to produce better learners from the younger generation where no one is left behind.

I cannot emphasize enough how we truly need to work together as the cure for humanity is not only in the sharing of knowledge but rather in the understanding of our diverse cultures as Filipinos. As educators, our role is to support our students’ learning growth in order for them to reach their full potential and, despite the challenges, we must be able to meet them “where they are” by re-engaging with them individually.

This is why, in the case of Pikit National High school in North Cotabato, Duterte instructed school officials to initiate an alternative mode of learning for students who are afraid to go to school so that they may complete their education without interruption. As educators, we are often reminded to teach our students to “learn how to learn” and it is a process that goes beyond the academic, as this includes strategies to persist and build resilience.

Education in Mindanao has been under attack due to violence and with this said, Duterte has appealed to the youth in the area to do their part in rebuilding better communities torn by conflict. Our response to interrupted learning should be a collective effort – whole of nation. Teachers do not have the sole responsibility in making the necessary changes when it comes to education and we must be able to have honest discussions on mitigating disruptions to the learning process as this includes formation. Our goal is not just to recover but rather, to attain sustainable programs that both manage and accelerate learning.

It is time to redefine learning and “go out there” as crisis shifts the educational landscape. We need out-of-the-box solutions where, as I always say, we take the classroom to the streets and the streets into the classroom. In order for us to accomplish this, our educational system must be resilient where teachers, parents and members of the community share the responsibility of learning continuity as partners in society. We must learn how to leverage and anchor on what every student needs in order for them to achieve the conscious outcomes of our education curriculum. In the end, interrupted learning is resolved by interagency networks specific for education where both government and civil society are committed to doing the work and finding out what works best, and these are usually drawn from proper research that will identify the issues that affect the learning process and check the approaches that work versus the ones that don’t.

We need to support all learners with interrupted education as this has an effect on our country’s growth. When learners understand that their education is relevant to their future employment and productivity, they also understand the virtue of excellence as individual contributors to society, for through their studies and eventually their work, they recognize that the base of every developed country is an informed citizenry and our nation’s prosperity highly depends on it.