DepEd Mandaue cites parents’, students’ learning woes on 1st week of classes

Parents, students having difficulty understanding learning materials; modules damaged by fire, flood are among the concerns

A parent back to camera picks up the distance learning modules from teachers under DepEd Mandaue at the gymnasium in Barangay Paknaan in Mandaue City on Friday, October 9, 2020. | CDN Digital photo by Mary Rose Sagarino

MANDAUE CITY, Philipppines — Teachers under the Department of Education in Mandaue  or DepEd Mandaue are ready to help parents to understand the learning modules, so that they can also help their student-children understand the modules.

Dr. Nimfa Bongo, DepEd Mandaue superintendent, gave this assurance after she received reports from teachers about some parents, who wanted to help their children to understand the modules, could not also understand the learning modules.

“Uban’g mga parents nga wala daw kasabot sa mga modules, ingun ana,” Bongo said.

(Some parents do not understand the modules.)

Bongo said these were some of the challenges teachers and parents encountered on the first week of distance learning classes in public schools in Mandaue City.

Parents, students’ learning struggles

Pamela DeLa Cruz, a parent of six students, admitted that they help their children in answering the questions in the modules.

She said that sometimes, they had to step in to help because their children had struggled to also understand and answer the modules.

“Usahay malibog siya oy (student), usahay sapoton, muhilak kay dili kasabot. Gitabangan- tabangan lang namo, sa mga maguwang,” she said.

(Sometimes, she (the student) would get confused. He will become hot tempered and just cry because she could not understand them. So we, the parents, would help them understand the modules from time to time.) 

Avedrelda Castro, a parent of a grade 3 and grade 5 students, shares a similar struggle.

“Malibog panagsa, mochat lang sad mi sa maestra kay usahay dili maklaro ang answer sheets,” Castro said.

(We get confused sometimes so we will chat with the teacher because some of the answer sheets are not so clearly printed.)

Teachers under DepEd Mandaue prepare and wait for parents of students to pick up the learning modules of their children at the gymnasium in Barangay Paknaan in Mandaue City on Friday, October 9. 2020. | CDN Digital photo by Mary Rose Sagarino

Read: DepEd Mandaue teachers share struggle to do TV lessons

Anna Fe Luna, a teacher in Paknaan Elementary School, said that the subject teachers had already given their cell phone numbers to the parents so  they (parents) could contact them (teachers) and also they (teachers) have also created group chats to cater to their (parents) concerns and questions.

“Kanang (parents) wala kasabot sa modules, amo naman silang gi-ingnan nga mo contact lang sila namo kung naa silay nalibugan o wala nasabtan,” Luna said.

(Those parents who do not understand the modules, we have told them that they can contact us [teachers] if they have something that they do not understand [in the modules].)

“Naay time mga 11 (p.m.) sa GC (group chat). Sila mo contact, tubagon ra gihapon namo. Kinahanglan mag update mi sa mga cellphone ba kay naa ray mukalit og text nga mga parents,” she said.

(There is the 11 [p.m.] time for that in our GC [group chat]. They will contact us and we will answer them. We, however, have to continuously update our cellphones because their are parents who just suddenly text us.)

DepEd Mandaue: More concerns

Read: Friday night fire razes 25 homes in 2 Mandaue City barangays

Learning modules of students that are damaged by calamities are also among DepEd Mandaue’s concerns.

Bongo was referring to the learning modules of 32 students in a school in Barangay Paknaan that got soaked in flood waters last week and learning modules of 15 other students that were destroyed by the recent fire that hit the border of Sitio Latasan in Barangay Labogon and Zone Patatas in Barangay Paknaan on October 9.

“Tagaan balik og modules, okay ra man kay naa pa man mi daghan bond papers. Ang time lang gyud to print,” Bongo said.

(We will just to provide them again with the learning modules. It is okay to do that because we still have a lot of bond paper. However, we just need time to print them.)/dbs

LOOK: Flooded areas in Barangay Paknaan on October 4