Learners struggle from learning 3Rs, teachers say

Some teachers have observed deficiencies in the reading, writing and numeracy skills of their students from Grade 2 to Grade 11, based on the first week of classes.

Ruby Bernardo, a Grade 10 Filipino teacher, said some of her students were having a difficult time expressing themselves during face-to-face classes.

“You would expect them to have a higher order thinking skill somehow but the students find it hard to do simple pronunciation,” she said.

Mathematics teacher Melanie Balahadia said only 21 percent of selected Grade 2 students passed the literacy and numeracy assessment at her school last June.

“Most of the students failed, especially in mathematics. This means that the pandemic had a huge effect on the kids, and there is really a learning gap,” Balahadia said.

DepEd admitted that it found “alarming” reports of such learning gaps, which prompted the agency to develop a “learning recovery and continuity plan (LRCP).”

“The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the delivery of learning at an unprecedented scale not just in the Philippines but worldwide. The abrupt change in the learning delivery landscape from face-to-face learning to distance learning impacted learning outcomes,” DepEd said.

DepEd defines learning gaps as the difference between what the students are expected to have learned in a particular grade level compared to what they have learned up to that point.

“These gaps are often compounding. Hence, DepEd developed its learning recovery and continuity plan,” it said.