"How do we develop a digitally empowered and, more importantly, critically thinking citizenry?"
A World Bank report last week confirmed what we had some sense of all along: That the protracted lockdown occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a serious blow to education systems in the world, in general, and in the Philippines, is particular.
Remote learning has not been equally effective everywhere, and its effectiveness is mixed, at best, said Cristobal Cobo, World Bank senior education and technology specialist.
“Some countries provided online digital learning solutions, although a majority of students lacked digital devices or connectivity, thus resulting in uneven participation, which further exacerbated existing inequalities,” he said.
Here in the Philippines, the gaps are heartbreaking. As of March 2021, remote learning in the Philippines covered only 20 percent of households with schoolchildren — this is the lowest rate, comparable only to Ethiopia’s, among the countries surveyed. Only 26.9 percent of students in the Philippines have broadband internet access, even as 88.8 percent have access to mobile technology, according to the World Bank.
Educational levels of parents and guardians also proved significant. Just 9 percent of children with elder household members who had no education participated in remote learning activities. The number improves to 16 percent when the adult family members reached at least primary or secondary education, and to 40 percent for children with parents or guardians with college education.
As a result, learning poverty, defined as the share of 10-year-olds who cannot read nor understand a simple story, was estimated to have hit 90 percent in August.
The World Bank — through its global director for education Jaime Saavedra — also said that hybrid learning, which employs a combination of online and in-person methods of delivery, is here to stay.
How, then, do we best respond to these findings, in the light of the specter of the reopening of schools in the next few weeks? In fact, the Department of Education started the pilot run of face-to-face classes in select areas last week, and the Commission on Higher Education is preparing to do the same for tertiary level schools in the near future.
We take cue from the World Bank’s characterization of hybrid learning as something that will remain even after the COVID numbers have continued to go down. Effective teaching, suitable technology, and engaged learners are crucial to the achievement of education goals as we try to reclaim and move forward with our way of life.
The problems of the education system that existed before the pandemic should be addressed alongside new efforts to improve internet access and digital adaptability.
There is no going back to a purely offline way of learning, so we have to find a way to use technology to boost the human factor in delivering quality education for more young Filipinos.
Underlying all this is the need to develop citizens who will be able to think on their own — seeking evidence, verifying claims, and coming up with their own conclusions instead of parroting a script.
This is a tall order for the education of officials of the next administration. This is all the more reason Filipinos should be more exacting of their candidates in the next elections. Reject leaders who consign the youth to intellectual laziness and dishonesty, and support only those who have an actual plan to develop a digitally empowered and, more importantly, critically thinking, citizenry.