UP eyes to vaccinate students

by Jhian Aranas & Jay Sebastian

The University of the Philippines Diliman administration has been discussing plans to inoculate the student body in order to resume face-to-face classes.

The College of Human Kinetics gym at UP Diliman currently being used as a vaccination hub by the Quezon City LGU.

Photo taken from the Quezon City Government facebook page.

In an interview with UP Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Richarch Gonzalo, he confirmed there is an initiated step to inoculate students in the university, but plans are yet to proceed due to factors for consideration. He identified the need to find out the students’ general sentiments on vaccination.

Gonzalo said a pretest survey among random UP students was launched early this March to check their willingness and capability to be vaccinated.

“They’ll be asked questions on their willingness to be vaccinated, their degree of participation in terms of their ability to travel to a UP campus to be vaccinated,” Gonzalo said.

After assessing the survey results, Gozalo said the next step is masterlisting which involves the listing of students who are willing to be vaccinated.

Although a plan to inoculate students is being discussed, Gonzalo clarified the immunization will still follow the vaccination priority guidelines set by the IATF.

Currently, the university is prioritizing faculties and government employees as part of the upper tier of priority groups in the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination program in the Philippines.

Distance education underscored difficulties in learning

For more than a year, professors have been conducting classes via distance learning—an alternative learning method consisting of synchronous and asynchronous activities online.

Many, however, have been unable to participate due to unstable internet connection, as well as lack of necessary devices such as computers and smartphones, among other reasons.

The second semester of the current academic year saw a drop in enrollment of 7.6 percent from the previous semester. This is over 6.1 percent higher than last academic year’s drop in enrollment.

To add, the past two semesters were cut short by the university amid calls from student groups to halt classes due to difficulties faced during distance learning.

These difficulties have taken a toll on students and faculty alike.

According to second year law student Bryan Santamaria, distance learning has exacerbated challenges particular to law school.

“The primary teaching method in law school is supposed to be interactive. I’ve found that this doesn’t really translate well online, especially when many of us experience network connectivity issues and other problems with technology,” said Santamaria.

He added that the asynchronous approach does not work in law school either.

“The material we encounter is difficult enough as it is, so it’s very easy to get lost in trying to interpret the law without the guidance of an instructor,” Santamaria added.

Rafa Partosa, a third-year computer science major, shares similar difficulties. Partosa said, many of the resources once available during face-to-face classes have now disappeared.

“What’s been most difficult for me is the sudden change in environment. What we used to have easy access to such as lab equipment, consultation with professors, and department resources are now suddenly gone,” said Partosa.

Partosa added that these sudden changes in environment, along with changes in other aspects, have made it difficult for him to function properly as a student.

“Besides losing access to important resources for school, I’ve had to adjust to changes in my personal life at home. Looking back, I realize you can’t really expect any student to adjust completely to the distance learning setup, especially in such a short amount of time,” the computer science major added.

On the other end of distance learning, faculty member Neen Sapalo shared difficulties faced as an instructor.

Sapalo lamented that the lack of institutional support from the university has been the biggest obstacle to teaching amid the pandemic.

“So many colleagues had to adjust quickly. We had no choice, and we had no strong support in the form of training, guidance, and financial incentives from the UP administration,” Sapalo said.

Sapalo also said the support the university did offer was insufficient.

“There were webinars about distance learning, but I don’t think they were enough to help us craft a syllabus and course pack that would be distance-learning friendly,” Sapalo added.

Vaccination of UP students, only a first step

When asked about the university’s plans to inoculate the student body, the three had varying insights.

Santamaria said plans to inoculate the student body would most benefit students enrolled in programs best done in person.

“I’m very much for these plans. If students were to be vaccinated, then face-to-face classes may be resumed. This would greatly benefit courses that don’t prosper in an online setup,” said Santamaria.

“Of course, these plans should comply with current guidelines for vaccination, along with other relevant laws,” he added.

Partosa believes the university should exercise caution when executing these plans, for the safety of both students and their families.

“If the university proceeds with their plans, they should not only take into account students but their families as well,” he mentioned.

Sapalo shares similar sentiments. He approves of the university’s plan, but says the situation beyond the university must not be disregarded.

“It would be callous of us to continue with our lives and do face-to-face classes while Philippine society-at-large are unvaccinated, unprotected, and remain vulnerable,” he said.

He added that the government should provide financial assistance for students to continue for online learning aside from being vaccinated by the university.

Inoculation at the national level

Currently, the country has a long way to go from achieving herd immunity.

Inoculation czar Carlito Galvez Jr. set a target earlier this year of 50 to 70 million individuals inoculated by the end of 2021. At present, roughly 2 million or 1.9% of the population have been fully inoculated.

At this rate, schools nationwide, especially those with funding insufficient to inoculate students, would find it difficult to resume face-to-face classes any time soon.

The difficulties in distance learning mentioned, such as connectivity issues, mental health problems, and overall lack of resources, are shared throughout the country.

For some, these are compounded by mistakes by the Department of Education (DepEd) itself.

DepEd Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said 155 confirmed errors were found in their learning materials from October last year to June this year.

Last month, Commission on Higher Education Prospero De Vera III announced that flexible learning, which includes both online and offline methods, would be the norm from this year onwards.

"From now on, flexible learning will be the norm. There's no going back to the traditional full-packed face-to-face classrooms. The commission has adopted the policy that flexible learning will continue in school year 2021 and thereafter," said De Vera.

Additional Information:

The inoculation of the A4 priority groups, non-medical frontline essential workers has begun roughly three months after the Philippines’ official start of the vaccination plan last March 1.

Latest data released by the Department of Health (DOH) on June 7, 2021 indicates a total of 5,965,651 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered, 4,421,319 of which are first doses. Only 1,555,332 have been fully-vaccinated against the virus which is a stark contrast to the country’s 110 million population. The average daily administered doses for the last 7 days is 112,621, and is expected to rise as 40 million vaccines are bound to arrive this June to August.