Toward Technologyenabled Basic Education

As the COVID-19 pandemic triggered restrictive quarantine measures, schools were shuttered in consonance with national government policy not to allow in-person learning that would place the health and safety of elementary and high school students at great risk. This resulted in the postponement of school reopening first to August, then to October 2020. Hence, the school year is still in its second semester when it would have been in its summer session by now.

Distance learning became the new normal in basic education. Printed learning modules that were distributed to students’ homes assumed primary importance. Wherever the use of gadgets could be enabled by adequate internet connectivity, virtual or online learning was also adopted.

Especially in the primary grades, parents – mostly mothers – became the home-school teachers. Regular teachers – especially those in the provinces and rural areas where physical proximity to learners was not a problem – continued to monitor the progress of their students remotely or through periodic home visits.