Mandatory Home Education during COVID-19 Lockdown: Basis for Training of Para-teachers in Basilan, Philippines

Schools have been closed in many countries, but education continues virtually during the COVID -19 pandemic. In the Philippines, unprecedented measures were launched to stop the spread. It is in this light that the researchers assessed how Mandatory Home Education during the COVID-19 Lockdown has affected parents, and how parents manage to act as tutors to their children, specifically determine the competency of parents to teach their children. The study was conducted with 60 participants most are parents chosen purposively. Results showed that on the average, there are two children in the households under mandatory home schooling, and there is only one sibling among the family members who can extent their help or who can spend an hour a day in helping their younger siblings under the mandatory home schooling. Children under mandatory home schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic whose parents have only completed their secondary education, are not competent enough to serve as tutors to their children who are subjected under the mandatory home schooling. Thus, the need for DepEd to allocate budget and conduct capacity building and Literacy Training for all parents whose educational attainment are low to be able to reinforce the learning of their children.