Introduction
Covid-19 has affected everyone around the world. It is reported that there are approximately 346 million cases worldwide. Due to this, people are forced into lockdown, unable to do their daily tasks and activities. It also halted the operations of businesses and other industries in the country which resulted in the downfall of economy. The pandemic also severely affected the higher education institutions and its students.
According to CHED Statistics (2020) there are 3.5 million students enrolled for higher education in the school year 2019-2020. When the pandemic hit on the year 2020, it could possibly indicate the even less students would be able to enroll for the next semester. Along with this, the problems of health and financial problems are piling up for the students. Sunstar (2022) reported that CHED has approved the increase of tuition fees among universities and colleges to recalibrate the miscellaneous and school fees during the pandemic. On the other hand, health is also a serious challenge for the students. According to Lalu (2020) the pandemic is causing mental problems among the students. There are reports of emotional stress and lack of well-being which results in students inflicting harm on themselves. The force opening of classes and lack of improvements on distance learning by the government drove many students unable to support their education.
Discussion
The pandemic exposed the weakness and vulnerabilities of the higher education. Malipot (2021) stated that CHED was unable to implement things that could have lessen the effects of the pandemic before it started. It showed that the higher education system of the country is ill-prepared on situations like the COVID-19 pandemic that affects everyone nationwide.
According to Simbulan (2020) the higher education institutions (HEIs) were able to adapt with the pandemic. Many universities and colleges implemented learning management systems (LMS) to supplement the remote learning. Teaches and administrators were also allowed to work from their homes to ease the asynchronous classes and students were also allowed to work with their own time. However, with these improvements, lack of financial support is still the primary predicament among the students. The recent increase in tuition fees meant that fewer students would be able to pay and maintain their studies (Sunstar, 2022). With lockdowns enforced, some students have to give up the school year just to work and provide sustenance for their families. This also adds to the ever-growing concerns of mental and physical health problems. Along with this, there is also the threat of getting infected with the virus (COVID-19) in which the students have to lookout for.
Conclusion
It is clear that people are struggling to survive the pandemic especially the students. The lack of financial support and health concerns just adds to the growing number of problems they are facing. The unpreparedness of the higher education system reflects the current situation in the online learning classes of the students. In line with this, Malipot (2021) stated that CHED Chairman De Vera admitted that they have not invested in technology-mediated learning and that they did not consider remote learning approach in the education system. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic has showed that there are still lots of improvements that could be done in the higher education system of the country.
Recommendation
In relation to health, the CHED has to develop a program to further increase the vaccination rate among the teachers, staffs, and students of HEIs. It is also advised to create surveys regarding the vaccination status and other information that might help in the development. This is in addition to their recent achievement in the increase of vaccinated personnel and students. According to Montemayor (2021) CHED has increased the vaccination rate of teaching employees by 87.1% and 59.7% among students as of December 29. Furthermore, this will also aid in the upcoming opening of face-to-face classes in higher education as mandated by the government.
Likewise, in the financial aspect, CHED should reconsider their recent memorandum of increase in tuition fees in educational institutions. Families are still struggling on their daily livelihoods and with the sudden increase of tuition fees, it is highly likely that more students would not be able to afford higher education anymore. As stated by BusinessMirror (2022) political parties such as BBM-Sara UniTeam urged the CHED to defer the tuition increase which adds to the burden of the families that are still recovering from the pandemic.
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