If there is one thing we need to keep on doing even during the pandemic, it is learning.

COVID-19 gave a tremendous impact on the world, heavy traffic turned empty, economies fall slowly, workplaces closed, even the ones we never want to happen was temporarily stopped including the full operationalization of one of the most treasured institutions, the education.

Because of the community lockdowns, many are challenged to adapt the new way of learning. Students and schools exert their efforts to facilitate the new set-up of delivering education to the children which we termed as   online learning wherein majority have engaged. The challenge of technological advancement and coping mechanisms of students are the most encountered concerns on said set-up.

The clients of Jose Fabella Center (JFC) are not exempted from this reality. Some of them are in need of inclusive education which will fit on their needs because few of the clients of JFC were physically challenged and improve mental patient rescued from the streets of Metro Manila. This makes the new normal set-up of learning more challenging to them. But these hindrances are not overcome if educators are resourceful and students have the willingness to learn.

JFC provides Special Education (SPED) to its clients with special needs even in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the health risk of face-to-face classes, JFC started its first virtual class on August 5, 2020, and conducted these every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with girls in the morning and boys in the afternoon.

Special Education or SPED is a practice of educating new learners in a way that provides a special arrangement that addresses individual differences, disabilities, and special needs. These interventions are designed to help individuals with special needs achieve a higher level of personal self-sufficiency and self-sustainability.

Through virtual classes, selected clients of JFC started to learn Basic Literacy and Numeracy, Arts, Color Identification, and Aesthetics with the help of JFC’s personnel.

Ms. Faith Franchesca Arevalo, Manpower Development Officer I, and a licensed Psychometrician is assigned to assist the clients who are attending SPED classes. The center also has two licensed SPED teachers namely, Ms. Juana Daganio and Ms. Amalia Alcantara.

On March 18, 2021, 12 clients are currently attending JFC’s SPED classes and another 15 clients are recommended for assessment by the social workers to also enroll in the said special class.

Just like other students who have difficulty with their new way of learning, JFC clients continue their study using modules as a tool for learning. Fortunately, through the initiatives of JFC, they were able to deliver special education for their clients with special needs which are successfully accomplished.  

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic may permanently change the way of living of everybody, but one thing that we can keep through this experience was our desire to grow— our ability to learn new things and prosper in life under any circumstances.

JFC is a facility that offers temporary shelter to homeless individuals, groups, and families in a crisis situation which includes reached out to street dwellers; residents, or non-residents of 17 local government units of Metro Manila.

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