Glemir Sordilla

July 2020

Bacolod

Reminiscing about back in early March when I can still feel the heat due to the crowds of students piling up in my school’s hallway accompanied by their rowdy remarks while we were all trying to get our teachers to sign our clearances. (). The news of the deadly COVID-19 was just looming in the shadows. Wearing masks and social distancing was not the main priority back then which is hard to imagine even just looking back during those times. Together with these memories is specifically asking my friend to take a photo of me because I had a feeling it would be the last time I’ll be there at school, considering I am also graduating, and I was not wrong.

Days later, mandatory lockdowns and closing of many institutions soon followed. The interview for my college course that I am pursuing was cancelled. This made me think on how the education system will continue since the spreading of the virus is not slowing down anytime soon. 

A couple of weeks later, this is when the Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, came in and signed a law that will allow the Chief Executive to reschedule the start of the school year in an event of a state emergency or calamity. The President signed Republic Act 11480 which mandated the opening of classes between the first Monday of June until the last day of August. With that information, August 24 became the approved date on continuing this academic year.

Maybe the government did not anticipate how this virus would scar this country because the daily cases keep rising at an all-time high. The Department of Education (DepEd) will adhere to the President’s directive that there will be no face to face classes if there is still no vaccine. They also stressed how it would be challenging for them to facilitate learning in a different set-up. I can see the educational institutions are doing their best to keep up with the new normal, keeping their enrollment processes as safely as possible through online transactions.

I can’t help myself but be worried about my future. Learning would be a lot more difficult because instead of a professor or a teacher it would be the screen of a device or stack of modules that you will need to bring yourself to learn alone. Will I be a competent and educated graduate after this school year? That I do not know yet but I will do my best like I always do.