BAGUIO CITY (PIA) — The Department of Education-Cordillera (DepEd-CAR) has laid alternative measures to ensure the learning continuity of learners amid the successive class suspensions due to tropical cy-clones.
DepEd reported that for the current school year, CAR al-ready recorded 35 class disruptions, thecountry’s 2.3 percent. Bahit noted that the bottom 30 percent income households posted an average inflation rate of 4.5 per-cent in the 10th month this year, higher than the 3.3 percent average across all income groups in the region during the period.
He said those in the bottom 30 percent spent at least 52 per-cent of their disposable income on food and non-alcoholic beverages, while other expenses are for housing, water, electricity and other fuel, personal care and miscellaneous goods and services.
He said that while expenses are inevitable, there are ways to save on cost such as buying chicken or fish instead of pork for protein and cooking at home instead of highest number of school days lost mainly due to natural disasters and calami-ties.
DepEd-CAR Regional Director Estela Cariño said they con-sider this a learning loss.
“While nagi-SLM [self-learning mod-ule] sila or gumagawa ng mga lessons from their text books, parang we do not really consider it to change ‘yung regular class. We still consider these 35 days as something that will have to be changed,” Cariño said in an interview.
She said that among the suggestions is the cancellation of the upcoming mid-year break and utilizing it for make-up classes. Saturday classes and extensions of class hours may also be implemented.
Cariño mentioned that the region is also included in the implementation of the Dynamic Learning Pro-gram to ensure learning continuity. This can be implemented in schools as make-up classes and catch-up sessions in temporary learning spaces. DepEd is doing whatever is possible to address the learning loss, Cariño added.
While waiting for the issuance of a new DepEd memorandum circular on the possible changes in the guidelines of automatic suspension of classes, Cariño asked the learners to make use of the available self-learning modules or textbooks given to them to really help themselves in coping with learning.
“Sana, the learners, mag-change naman ang kaisipan sa happiness when there is no class. I-con-sider naman nila, paano ‘yung ga-graduate sila, kulang ang nalalaman, kawawa sila pagpunta nila sa next grade o pagpunta nila sa college. So sana, ang isipin nila, how to help themselves, how to support themselves, and how to cooperate with what the Department will be doing and is doing,” she said.
She likewise appealed to the parents to support and assist their children to ensure that they are learning from their self-learning modules and textbooks.
In DepEd Order No. 37 s. 2022, it states that in-person, online classes and work from Kindergarten to Grade 12 and Alternative Learning System are automatically cancelled in schools situated in local government units with tropical cyclone wind signals 1, 2, 3 ,4 or 5 by the Philip-pine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
Classes were successively suspended in the region after the sequential onslaught of tropical cyclones. **DEG-PIA CAR
