Atty. Gregorio B. Austral, CPA
Fast-tracking the disruption
The education sector is one of the sectors of our society that is caught unprepared by the COVID-19 pandemic. Classes were the first to be cancelled as a preventive measure since the probability of transmission in schools is high owing to the way we conduct our classes in the traditional way. With a class of around 30 to 50 students, the teacher facilitates learning within the four corners of a physical classroom, thus, making the latter a probable hot zone for viral transmission. After we have flattened the proverbial curve, classes most likely will be the last one to be allowed to resume. Hence, schools, colleges and universities must craft strategies to cope with the disruption courtesy of the novel coronavirus.
With the advent of technology that modernizes learning, Philippine regulators such as the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education seem to be averse to the mainstreaming of online education and continue to hold on to the belief that a real classroom setting is still the gold standard of learning. This notion seems to muster a stronghold in government regulators since most, if not all, do not allow classes to be delivered purely using the online platform. Even the pressures brought about by the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIRe) did not seem to shake the foundations of traditional learning yet. Let’s admit it, technology is transforming the way we live, work, play and think. The transformation happens more quickly and on a larger scale such that the growing challenge of the educators right now is to equip today’s learners with the skills to thrive in tomorrow’s world. As to what those skills are, that remains to be seen as the world constantly evolves every second.
The seeming resistance and aversion to online education was suddenly overturned by the threat of COVID-19. As traditional classrooms now become the hot zone for infection, the need to continue the business of education has been pushed to the very wall it has been avoiding before: online education. Schools and universities are not prepared for this since their investment is focused on building physical infrastructures and on trainings that emphasize face-to-face interaction with the learners.
With COVID-19 hovering the sword of Damocles, teachers and learners join the exodus to the virtual world where there is no threat of infection. The sad reality is that our internet infrastructure in the country is not yet ready to handle increased data traffic. The teachers and learners as well are not equally ready and some, especially teachers who are not digital natives, may experience a culture shock in being forced into an unchartered world.
Time will come that we will have to give in to the disruption and rethink the ways we do things in the education sector. In the future, employers may prefer nano courses than a four-year college degree. Are our colleges and universities ready for this? The theory of disruption suggests that they should not rest on their laurels as the incumbent. Like the famous Kodak which our children now have not heard since birth, schools may probably be permanently consigned to our history books in the future.