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WIDER IMAGE-Scaling roofs and mountains, Philippine students battle to take online classes

Published 01/07/2021, 07:00 AM
Updated 01/07/2021, 07:10 AM
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

* Picture essay: https://reut.rs/2XjmWOE

By Eloisa Lopez
MANILA, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Since the pandemic forced him into
remote learning, 10-year-old Jhay Ar Calma has often had to
climb on to the corrugated iron roof of his home in a poor
neighbourhood of Manila to get an internet signal.
Up on the roof, he sits on a broken plastic basin and hopes
there'll be a signal strong enough for his government-issued
device.
"Sometimes we change the SIM card to a different provider so
he doesn't have to study on the roof, but there's rarely enough
money to spare for that," Calma's mother Jonalyn Parulan told
Reuters.
(Click https://reut.rs/2XjmWOE to see a picture package of
Philippine students overcoming obstacles for online learning.)
Hopes for a return to classrooms this month have been dashed
after President Rodrigo Duterte reversed a plan to trial
in-person classes in low-risk areas, postponing any reopening
indefinitely as the Philippines battles over 480,000 coronavirus
infections, the second-highest number in Southeast Asia.
The shift to online classes, self-learning modules and
television and radio programmes has proven extremely challenging
in a country of 108 million where less than a fifth of
households have internet access and many lack mobile devices.
Already, there has been a surge in students dropping out of
school, according to the education ministry.

STUDYING ON A MOUNTAIN, IN A GRAVEYARD
In Laguna province, south of Manila, students trek up a
mountain to get internet access, and have even built a hut to
provide shelter when it rains and to sleep when they work late
into the nights on assignments.
This situation is a far cry from the university life
Rosemine Gonzaga, 19, had anticipated.
"I was really excited for college because all my life I've
been here in the mountains," Gonzaga said, explaining how the
pandemic had thwarted her plans for an independent life in the
town.
Like many students in her community, she relies on a
scholarship and fears she may lose it if she is unable to keep
up with lessons. Still, Gonzaga is resolved to continue online
classes rather than risk infection attending university.
"The pandemic is no reason for me to stop learning," she
said.
Mark Joseph Andal, 18, who lives in San Juan, Batangas
province, has taken a part-time job in construction to purchase
a smartphone for virtual classes and has also built a forest
shelter to capture an internet signal.
When the signal fades, Andal picks up his plastic chair to
move to another spot, and if it rains, he holds the phone in one
hand and an umbrella in the other.
Andal says he has no choice. "We're not rich, and finishing
school is my only way to repay my parents for raising me."
Andal admits he was both relieved and scared when he heard
schools might reopen. The trying circumstances have made him
more determined to succeed.
"I want to be more active in class, I want to persevere
more, to improve myself despite the situation I'm in," he said.
Many families also struggle with home tutoring.
Lovely Joy de Castro, 11, who lives at a makeshift home in a
Manila cemetery, sometimes studies sitting on gravestones to
avoid getting under the feet of her family cooking chicken to
sell to visitors.
"I know we haven't given her enough guidance with school,"
said Castro's grandmother Angeline Delos Santos, "but if we
don't take care of our business, we would have nothing to feed
the kids."
"I just hope that she finishes school, gets a good job, and
ultimately finds a life outside this cemetery," said Santos.

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Picture essay https://reut.rs/2XjmWOE
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