By Herminigilda G. Padilla, Teacher III, Peñaranda North Central School

Educational landscape has been reshaped into a new set-up heavily caused by the
occurrence and continuing surge of Covid-19 pandemic. It has surfaced educational institutions to
significantly adjust with the global health crisis which likewise resulted to the implementation of
distance education. In as much as the Department of Education (DepEd) is concerned, being the
sole government agency that regulates and monitors the effective and efficient delivery of basic
education services, emphasized that education shall not be hampered by the pandemic while
instituting safety protocols. This in turn may result, that Filipino learners be given a democratic
and meaningful learning environment even when they were studying at home. On one hand, it was
a primordial concern of the researcher that factors affecting their study behavior be considered and
identified. To this premise, teacher’s classroom management and guidance in the pursuit of
learning process were distracted by chances of time and interaction.
Teachers in the Elementary levels strongly hold their beliefs that study habit was
contributory to learner’s meaningful learning. Among learning skills, Study habit was broadly
considered as one of the most salient elements in students’ academic success or failure in the
spectrum of education. For the past decades, educational landscape has shifted from one form to
another which was totally dependent to the progressive demands and trends of luminosity. Thus,
pupils as main clienteles of education, were also continually adjusting to these current trends and
demands. These were evident to their manifested behavior during teaching and learning process.
Acharya (2012) discussed that study habits served as good learning behavior of an educated human
being that enabled him towards greater academic achievements and comparatively, more
meaningful over the use of leisure time.
Due to the unforeseen occurrence of Covid-19 pandemic, the entire Philippine
educational system has been reshaped its pedagogical processes that likewise transformed from

normal set-up to alternative learning delivery modality. Alternative Delivery Modules or Self-
Learning Modules (SLMs) considered as one of the learning delivery modalities adopted by the

schools (DepEd Order no. 18 s. 2020). As the pandemic drew severe limitations, learners
accomplished their learning tasks independently at home. Further, assistance and parental guidance
among learners were viewed as an essential element of meaningful learning. However, total
attitude of learners towards studying during distance learning arouse teachers’ awareness if
significant learning experiences were obtained. To this effect, intensive supervision and

monitoring of their performances were limited since teachers were refrained to conduct face-to-
face classes or in any way, administer discussion physically present in schools.

Teachers’ perceptions on the determined study skills and habits of pupils profounded their
manifested academic performance during their online classes. Notably, many teachers found out
that based on the collective observations there were increasing number of pupils who performed
poorly due to the tardy and incomplete submission of their self-learning modules. This plunged
awareness to identify if there were prevailing conditions or behavior that affected their learning
condition. Meanwhile, there were series of structured dialogue postulated by the teachers to parents
that determined pupils’ experiences in answering their self-learning modules which led to their
non-submission and completion of the learning tasks given to them. Verily, that despite of the
challenges faced by the teachers, learners and parents, they still embrace that education is a
precious treasure.