For the incoming school year, the Department of Education (DepEd) said it will provide Self-Learning Modules (SLMs) with the alternative learning delivery modalities to be offered for various types of learners across the Philippines.
The DepEd said the integration of SLMs with the alternative learning delivery modalities (modular, television-based, radio-based instruction, blended, and online) will help ensure that all learners have access to quality basic education face-to-face classes still prohibited due to the public health situation.
“The SLMs and the other alternative learning delivery modalities are in place to address the needs, situations, and resources of each and every learner and will cover all the bases in ensuring that basic education will be accessible amid the present crisis posed by Covid-19,” DepEd secretary Leonor Briones said.
SLMs are delivered in printed format to schools that are located in coastal areas, far-flung provinces, and communities without access to the Internet or electricity. For households with gadgets and devices, the DepEd has announced that SLMs can also be accessed online or offline.
Briones noted that SLMs will be integrated in video lessons, most especially for K to 3 learners who will require more auditory learning than other grade levels.
DepEd Region II director Estela Carino added that learners with special needs will have video sessions as well as assigned teachers that will be guiding them throughout their lessons.
“The activities we placed in the SLMs will be appropriate for learners with special needs, too. We still have to give these learners the same kind of care that we gave them while we were doing face-to-face classes. Most of them would be using video-taped lessons aside from the modules,” Carino said.
DepEd has provided a set of SLMs for each region for contextualization, which shall be printed in July and will be prepared for distribution nationwide, including learners in coastal and far-flung areas.
The agency also assured that the safety and health of teachers and personnel will be its top priority as SLMs can be done at home. Teachers who would need to visit their schools to get materials to prepare the SLMs are required to follow the existing work arrangement and health protocols.
To further integrate the SLMs with the learning delivery modalities, DepEd said it is set to finalize the learning delivery modalities which will be implemented for each region after the consolidation of Learner Enrollment and Survey Forms (LESF) from the June enrollment.