The morning surge of students bustling from the sidewalks of PSU Road up to the pathways of the Palawan State University (PSU) main campus rushing to attend their morning classes is a typical sight for anyone who studied or visited the university but, amidst the global battle against the pandemic COVID-19, it’ll be a rare picture to see.
PSU Office of the University President released a memorandum order about the guidelines of the opening of classes for the first semester, signed August 20, stating the start of the pre-scheduled first semester of AY 2020 – 2021 on September 1, 2020 however, for the sake of the health and safety of the students, faculty and staff of the university, face-to-face classes are prohibited.
“Ang klase sa PSU ay magbubukas sa September 1. Ito po ay inapprove ng Board of Regents ng university at ito po ay magkakaroon tayo ng pagbubukas ng klase ngunit ang klaseng ito ay walang pupunta ng school na mga estudyante, ito po ay online. So gagamit tayo ng online at modular,” said Dr. Ramon Docto, the university president in a Palawan Daily News live interview.
According to the memorandum, Google Classroom will be the official learning platform of the university to provide instructions, modules and other learning materials as well as to be the medium of submission of requirements of the students.
The online classes will be implemented on all of the external campuses of the university – Rizal, Narra, Quezon, Araceli, Brooke’s Point, San Vicente, Cuyo, Coron, Balabac, Roxas, Taytay, El Nido, Linapacan, San Rafael, Sofronio Española, Dumaran and Bataraza.
On the other hand, in line with the reschedule announcement of the Department of Education (DepEd), classes at the Laboratory Schools of the university will commence on October 5, 2020.
Online learning or classrooms are existent in some of the classes in the university, but a complete shift from traditional face-to-face education to the online platform is certainly difficult for the students and faculty. PSU allotted the first week of classes as the adjustment period for the students and teachers to adapt with the new changes on the instructional delivery.
“This first week of classes will serve as a dry-run, it’s not a lesson proper but it would actually serve for our students and faculty to acclimatize, parang getting to know, getting to adjust with the new normal. I know that it is difficult for all of us but, I am sure kayang-kaya natin ‘to,” said Elijah Daniel B. Geanga, the PSU University Student Government (PSU-USG) president in his Facebook live video about the memorandum order.
According to Docto, they observed a decline on the enrollment rate of the students in the university main campus however, they also recorded an increase in the enrollment rate in external campuses.
“Ang napansin namin ngayon based sa record ng registrar, mas bumaba tayo ng enrollment dito (PSU main campus) pero tumaas naman ang enrollment natin sa mga external campuses,” he added.
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