A Grade 8 student in a public school in Cavite, Allen failed to submit the requirements in the first quarter. During the Christmas vacation, he was “too busy” to tend to the requirements needed in school. When classes resumed early this month, he felt that he could no longer catch up and barely showed up in his scheduled online classes.
An only child, Allen’s parents decided to enroll him this school year despite the pandemic. To ensure his safety and convenience, he was enrolled under online distance learning. His parents even got him a new phone and additional gadgets such as ring lights and headphones to help him focus on his lessons. Both parents are working and barely have time to assist him in doing school-related work, much more in monitoring his online activities.
Aside from Allen, teacher Myla said that there are other students who failed to submit their requirements for the first grading period. “Challenging talaga kasi halos wala kaming ma-compute for them, may basis din kasi yung grades like yung activity sheets, attendance, class participation at iba pa so pag in-complete, wala talagang grades na maibibigay ,” she added.
On Oct. 5, DepEd formally opened the school year 2020-2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 25 million students enrolled in the basic education sector both in public and private schools.