Challenges Encountered by Parents in the Education of their Children during COVID-19 Pandemic

— - This study described the challenges encountered by the 100 selected parents in the education of their children, enrolled at the primary level, during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Based on the survey conducted, most of the parents preferred online distance learning for the education of their children. As to the facilities used in distance learning, 96% of the respondents have an internet connection, and 89% utilized Wi-Fi to have internet access at home. Personal computers were the most used gadget in the studies of their children. The main challenges encountered by the parents were: lack or limited access to the internet and the poor internet connection in the Area. As to the quality of printed modules, there are items that are not readable and some colors of the figures are not appropriate.


INTRODUCTION
One of the most recent public health emergencies of global concern is the COVID-19 pandemic, which started in China and almost infected every country in the whole world. "This disease is caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2, previously known as 2019-nCoV) and has received global attention from growing infections and on how to eradicate the disease and flatten the curve of infections" (Guo et al., 2020).The Covid-19 pandemic has made everyone stay at home but it has not stopped the world. People still need to work, students need to learn and teachers need to teach (Vasquez, 2020).
Nowadays, people are staying in their homes due to the lockdown policy implemented by the government. However, learning should not halt. Different countries worldwide have introduced various answers during the pandemic to continue the education process using distance learning. Thus, online learning platforms such as google, TV broadcasts, guidelines, resources, video lectures, and online channels were introduced (Tria, 2020).
In the Philippines, the Department of Education (DepEd) formulated and implemented policies, plans, and programs to continue the education of the Filipino students during the time of pandemic (Dep.Ed.,2020). They spearhead the pure online, blended learning, and modular approach of teaching depending on the capacity and capability of basic education students. The program proves successful since it makes the students continue their studies during a time of crisis.
However, there are challenges that the parents, teachers, administrators, and students encountered in distance learning education which the researchers have heard and therefore, needed to be investigated and explored in order for this learning program to be sustained. Hence, this study focused on the issues and concerns encountered by the parents in the distance education of their children in these difficult times.

II. METHODOLOGY
This study utilized a descriptive research design to gather data relevant to answer the objectives of thisresearch. The researchers utilized a purposive sampling technique. A total of 100parents were selected as respondents from selected public primary schools in Cabanatuan City, Philippines. The data gathered were from the researchers' made questionnaire. Frequency and percentage were used to analyze the data of this study.

1.Teaching Approaches Employed in Distance Learning
Based on the survey conducted from the respondents, Table  1 shows that 64.3% used online distance learning in the education of their children, 28.6 % adopted blended distance learning and 7.1% use modular learning. The finding shows that online distance learning was preferred instruction by parents during this time of crisis. This finding is similar to the situations of South Korean students where they are responding to classes from their teachers online (Li & Lalani, 2020). It seems that parents in different parts of the world are in one that online distance learning is the appropriate approach to education during situations where contagious diseases is present.

Facilities use in Distance Learning
As to the facilities used in distance learning Table 2 shows that 96.40 % of the respondents have an internet connection and 3.60% have none. Among the 96.4% respondents, 89.3% utilized Wi-Fi while the remaining 7.1% make use of their cellular phone data. This finding shows how internet connection has improved the educational system in the world. It confirmed that the Internet has immense potential to improve the quality of education, which is one of the pillars of sustainable development (Internet Society, 2017) especially when face to face learning is not possible (Mina, et.al, 2020).

Kind of Gadget Use in Distance Learning
Department of Education required to use desktop or laptop for online study (Llego) which was also revealed in this study as shown in Table 3, that91% of the respondents used desktop in the distance education of their children. Tablet 15%

*Multiple response item
According to Rodger (2017), "computers, particularly desktop, have long become a necessity within education over the last few years. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that they are now a fundamental element within a 21st-century learning environment".

4.Challenges Encountered during the Distance Learning of their Children
The respondents are all very appreciative of the efforts of the Department of Education to continue the learning of their children despite the pandemic by implementing online

International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science (IJAEMS)
[Vol-6, Issue-12, Dec-2020] https: //dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaems.612.11  ISSN: 2454-1311 distance learning, modular learning, and blended learning. However, there are some challenges they have encountered in these different approaches. As to online distance education, it may not be 100% effective due to different reasons like the lack or limited access to the internet and the poor internet connection in the Area. As to the quality of printed modules, there are items that are not readable and some colors of the figures are not appropriate.

IV. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the survey conducted by the respondents, most of them preferred to use online distance learning in the education of their children. As to the facilities used in distance learning, 96.40 % of the respondents have an internet connection, and 89.3% utilized Wi-Fi to have the internet at home. Department of Education required to use desktop or laptop for online study (Llego) which was also revealed in this study as shown in Table 3, that 91% of the respondents used desktop in the distance education of their children. The study revealed that the main challenges encountered by the teachers were (Abelardo, et.al., 2019): lack or limited access to the internet and the poor internet connection in the Area. As to the quality of printed modules, there are items that are not readable and some colors of the figures are not appropriate.
With these, it is recommended to increase the MBPS of the internet connection in the country. Have open communication with the teachers about the situation of the children so that the teachers can accommodate challenges encountered by the parents on the day to day basis. Before the opening of classes in January, President Duterte should intensify his request to the telecommunications company to improve their services (Duterte, 2020). Department of Education Secretary Leonor Briones should allot appropriate funds for the modules being disseminated to every part of the country to ensure the quality of the materials and for the non-readable printed modules, the teachers may provide the parents an e-copy so that they can already view the modules on the gadgets that they use.