𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐛𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥?

𝙱𝚢 𝙰𝚖𝚒𝚎𝚕 𝙺𝚒𝚝 𝚃. 𝚃𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚢 𝚃-𝙸, 𝚂𝚊𝚗 𝙰𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗 𝙽𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝙷𝚒𝚐𝚑 𝚂𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕 𝙱𝚊𝚢𝚞𝚐𝚊𝚗 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙳𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘅. 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁. 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼-𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀. From the onset of the unsparing pandemic, our educational system has been affected, most evidently when school doors were closed to curb the influx of the virus. Despite this measure, the viral invasion continued. Thus, the Department of Education implemented the blended learning modality to comply with the no-contact protocol mandated by the national government. The new normal of delivering instruction challenged the norms in education as we navigated through the compromised traditional teaching methods, compounded by the absence of conventional means for both the teachers and students and the lack of interaction among the agents of learning. All these outcomes have magnified the almost unbearable blood-and-sweat sacrifices rendered by our educators, not to mention the economic toll that caused some private schools to cease operations even as the cost of production of learning materials soared. Moreover, the quality of learning was also challenged, especially for Distant Learning (DL) students who needed to wade through numerous modular activities and performance tasks. Even parents felt the burden of explaining various modular concepts, especially those who lacked formal education. Thus, the impediments to learning became more pronounced in them. Given the above, is the new normal abnormal? When can we say it is? Does it depend on the opinion of the majority? Or is it limited only to those things that do not appear superficially ridiculous in the eyes of the public? While many of us do not welcome the "new normal" as a new rule of the day, let alone in education, we banked on our being a resilient and determined nation. Like the bamboo grass that never breaks against the violent winds, we never buckled against the odds. Thus, we survived, knowing that this pandemic is but a passing episode in our lives. Essentially, the term "new normal" merely reflects another perspective of normality shared by society at large. With this perspective, we embraced the new norms as authentic alternatives demanded by the changing social and educational landscapes yet applied the same dynamism in our plans for learning continuity amid the harsh and new reality of the times. 🅴🅽🅳 NB. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒏𝒐𝒏-𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍, 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒔, 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔, 𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒑𝒐𝒆𝒎𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝒆𝒑𝑬𝒅 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒂’𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒆𝒃𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔. 𝑨𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕 (𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔) 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒗𝒊𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑷𝑴) 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒂𝒕 𝗽𝗮𝘂_𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗮@𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗱.𝗴𝗼𝘃.𝗽𝗵