Mommy Thoughts About Kids Going Back To School In August 2020

Back to school 2020 has already been announced and though I haven’t seen any concrete or specific guidelines yet on how this back-to-school activity will take place, I’ve read that DepEd has already started planning what they need to implement in the next school year to secure our children’s health including :

1. revised K-12 curriculum
2. reduced class size to 15 to 20 learners per class
3. multiple learning delivery modalities
4. testing protocols wherein “students and teachers with respiratory symptoms are not allowed in school”

From these plans, though I know there are more into it, it gave me some relief that DepEd is doing its job in ensuring that this back-to-school activity will not be catastrophic for the students.

But will I be allowing my kids to go to school just like that? I bet even DepEd officers who have schooling kids won’t.

For now, or even months from now, the schools will surely be like a lion’s den, particularly that I haven’t heard of any sterilization activities being done for the schools. And I fervently hope that there will be plans in place to do so.

Even from the start of ECQ, I was already determined not to let my kids to go to school even if we can already go out of the house. I even discussed with my husband that whatever happens, that maybe we can let our girls go to school a month after regular school days when we are sure that no one’s getting sick anymore.

Now that the issue of conflicts about going back to school has erupted on social media, I’ve been reading about some parents even wanting to let their kids skip the whole year.

Parents are the only ones who know their kids, their physical, mental and emotional condition and they will be the ones who should have the final say on this matter. However, for me, skipping another school year should be dealt with seriously as well.

I am up to online learning, extra schooling days, and extra school work for the kids, and I know that my kids will understand that. But I don’t want my kids to skip another school year and be on the same school level the next year. This will not only mean huge money allotment but the years of schooling will then again be adjusted. I really hope that it will not come to that.

As for online distance learning, some families might be equipped for this but for those who aren’t, I think this is the perfect time to start, not only for the government but to the rest of the Filipinos as well. We were already able to comply with the K-12 change in the education policy and though it took years of planning, the schools had already successfully implemented it without so much issue. So why not start the online learning system now, slowly but surely, so as to facilitate going back to school without the need to physically be there?

When the time comes when the call of face to face learning is already needed and possible, I sincerely hope that there will be some policies about testing all the students and teachers first before they can actually go to school. Or better yet, pray that a vaccine has already been discovered and made available for everyone.

Now that we are still waiting, we are already preparing the kids. I’ve already enrolled my eldest in an online tutorial school that will use the internet and Zoom while the modules will be delivered to us at home. For my younger child, her sibling agreed to teach her with her previous lessons an hour a day. I really encourage them to continue learning even while they are at home and explain to them that it’s a must that they don’t just depend on what will be fed to them but they need to find ways how they can improve themselves given the limited resources.

We parents need to teach our kids to be independent and yet always ready to lend them an ear and give them attention to guide them at all times. It’s a tough job but it’s the least we can do now when it comes to their education.

How about you? How are you preparing your kids into getting back to school?