THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers confirmed Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian’s recent warning that the learning crisis may worsen, citing their assessment of student performance in the first quarter of the school year under the distance learning program.

“In the cities, attendance in online classes is dwindling; in the provinces many modules were submitted incomplete or unanswered. We have long been in a bad learning crisis and now it is only getting worse,” Raymond Basilio, ACT Secretary General, said.

Basilio said that the pre-pandemic international learning assessments of Programme for International Student Assessment, Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics, and Trends in Mathematics and Science Study reflected the dismal quality of basic education in the country “brought about by years of state neglect in education.”

“The primary issue is how much and how well the government is investing in education. Pre-pandemic and under distance learning, we are hounded with the same problems that bog down the uplift of education quality —  lacking facilities, insufficient learning resources, overworked and underpaid workforce, and problematic curriculum,” he explained.

He added that one of the basic problems in distance learning — the unavailability of learning modules — remained unresolved.

ACT received complaints from teachers in Cavite, Quezon, Bulacan and Iriga City that they have no modules to distribute to as classes opened on Monday.

Reports from provinces also claimed that module printing remained to be the burden of teachers.

“This is plain and simple a problem of the government’s failure to sufficiently and promptly provide for the needs of education. Learners are deprived of basic learning materials while teachers are robbed of precious time and energy that are better spent on lesson preparation, guiding their students and improving their teaching skills. If the government cannot solve a problem as simple as module reproduction, how can we expect it to resolve a comprehensive one such as boosting education quality?” Basilio said.

ACT reiterated its proposal to improve the quality of education amid the pandemic — full state funding for the needs of education; address shortages in facilities, equipment, materials and personnel; better pay for education workers and lighter workload for teachers.

“We have long been pushing the Duterte government to take serious steps in effecting these reforms. Ang problema, parang wala naman silang pakialam sa edukasyon,” Basilio said.