It was supposed to be our school opening this year. I should be in school, listening to my teacher’s lessons and playing with my classmates.
I should have gone to our reading hub, studying and reading books. But because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, all my wishes will remain a wish until the end of the year.
I heard in the news that there is no guarantee if classes will resume this year. If so, it will not be the same as before. I also heard that our classes will be done online. This made me feel sad and worried.
I am sad because I am not sure if online classes will be effective. As a Grade 6 student, I want to learn while doing my schoolwork. I prefer moving freely while learning and not just sitting in one corner while listening. I will lose the interest to study if classes will be done online.
I am disheartened because conducting classes online might not be effective and the efforts of my teachers will go to waste.
I am also worried because I don’t own a laptop or a mobile phone. If ever I have a mobile phone, I don’t have the money to buy a load for it.
If I will go through with an online class that requires shelling out money, how about our daily spending? We don’t even own a television, how do I go about it?
Along with this pandemic comes a big challenge in our lives. My mother has no job and my father passed away a long time ago. My mother is a former laundrywoman and now she is into pig farming as a pastime. She is deaf-mute, a person with disabilities. We are just living at my grandmother’s house in the province with my four cousins.
If the online class will push through, I am troubled because who will I turn to if there are things that I would not understand in some of my school lessons?
“ I know that online education is the solution people think of in these trying times. I believe that this will probably work in big and progressive cities. But how about us who struggle to make ends meet while also striving for equal access and opportunity in education? ”
I know that online education is the solution people think of in these trying times. I believe that this will probably work in big and progressive cities. But how about us who struggle to make ends meet while also striving for equal access and opportunity in education?
Despite these circumstances and doubts, I end my piece full of hope… Hope that there will be support that will come around for people like us.
I know that the Department of Education is still finding a solution to solve this problem in the education sector. I hope that they will also consider our situation in looking for options to still continue learning during this time of pandemic.
Edited and translated by Charmie Joy Pagulong
Jean Mae M. Diaquino is a 12-year-old, incoming Grade 7 student at Siayan National High School in Siayan, Zamboanga del Norte. She originally wrote this piece in Filipino.
