Some parents in the province of Ilocos Norte took a pause from work early Monday to ensure their children are able to attend the official opening of classes at home.

In Pila village, Police Senior M/Sgt. Noel Abad, a widow with a 12-year-old son joined the virtual flag-raising ceremony inside his son’s study room before he kissed his forehead and left for work.

“I’m confident he can make it. He had been used to studying alone with minimal supervision,” said Abad in an interview on Monday.

Like Abad, other parents and guardians of learners in the province have accepted the challenge of educating their children at home.

Under a tree canopy with a makeshift table and chair, Rianzy Bardeloza’s mom in Poblacion, Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte assisted her five-year-old daughter in coloring her workbook.

As a first-time mom of a schoolgirl, she is excited to teach her child with the aid of learning modules delivered a week before the October 5 opening of classes.

Schools Division Superintendent Vilma Eda said in an earlier interview that parents were advised to place the modules in a safe and isolated area and open only the self-learning materials in time for the opening of classes.

She said the modules were distributed at least two weeks before the opening of classes to minimize the transmission of Covid-19 infection which lives on surfaces for days.

With the help of local village officials and the assigned teachers in every school, volunteer riders delivered the modules at the doorstep of every learner’s home and the school has designated drop-off points too.

In San Nicolas town, Rolen Oracion, school principal of the San Nicolas Elementary School has directed her teachers to keep an open line and make an effort to monitor their learners at home. Teacher volunteers were also designated to assist learners whose parents are not able to guide their children at home.

Instead of preparing a daily lesson plan, teachers are tasked to accomplish a weekly home learning plan as a monitoring tool in helping their learners thrive under the new normal education system. (PNA)