LITERATURE REVIEW
The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically changed – and disrupted – education as
we know it; academic institutions have been shut all over the world. In an attempt to curb
the spread of the virus, governments have temporarily closed schools, colleges and
university campuses, affecting more than 60% of the student population globally
(UNESCO, 2020). Hence, education is really important in every child's life thus the
Department of Education ordered public schools to accept all the enrollees of all ages to
adhere to the government policy "Education for All.” Increased enrollment equals to
classroom shortage. (Malolos et al, 2019).
According to Hendrick (2018) in his study, “A study of the effect of shift classes on
reading age” The effect of shifts upon learning has, for some time, been the subject of
debate among school administrators, teachers, parents, and others concerned with the
education of children. School administrators, supposedly, resort to shifting (usually first
and second, occasionally third and higher grades) only as an emergency measure. When
the number of classes anticipated for a given school session is larger than the number of
rooms available for housing these classes, obviously something must be done.
It is mentioned that DepEd’s directive are to divide classes in shifts to resolve the
issue of classroom shortage for the coming school year has already been the “norm in
many schools” nationwide even before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. In this setup, the
students are divided into batches, and they will attend classes in their designated “shift”
— morning or afternoon. Quetua explained that some students attending the morning
shift start their classes as early as 6 a.m. and those who need to travel to school need to
leave their houses earlier. Students in the afternoon shift need to stay in school until
around 7:00 p.m. Aside from their safety, Quetua also noted that the learning of students
is also affected since there is less time to spend in school (Malipot, 2022).
As mentioned by Negrite et al (2019) in their study entitled, “Effects of Shifting of
Classes on the Academic Performance of Grade Six Learners in San Antonio Elementary
School: Basis for Intervention Program” The results display absolute effects. The
researchers give some of the following intervention programs such as; a.) Study habit
program b.) Intensive communication to parents c.) Remedial teaching of floating
teachers d.) Pupils' training and workshop e.) Forming school clubs f.) More SLAC training
for teachers g.) Time management and priority setting, and h.) Applying all pedagogical
approaches, it is to help teachers and pupils to achieve better academic performance
while undergoing class shifting. In rapports of competition, the school performed less this
year in the selection of honors, the researchers observed the last year grades of the top
ten pupils and matched it on the current year, some of them hard to attain the set grades
of high honors. This means that class shifting significantly affects the academic
performances of grade six learners.
All things considered, with the tremendous effect that the pandemic brought to
people’s lives, education has been one of the life aspects that is greatly affected. Given
the fact that the classrooms are clearly outnumbered by the number of students enrolled,
the Department of Education got no choice but to implement the shifting of classes in
public schools to be able to tend the lacking. If the researchers were to compare the
academic performance of students before and after the implementation of shifting of
classes, the researchers can absolutely conclude that the situation had made a significant
effect on the academic performance of the students.
References:
 Class shifting poses threat to health and safety of learners, teachers — group –
Manila Bulletin (mb.com.ph)

Effects of Shifting of Classes on the Academic Performance of Grade Six Learners
in San Antonio Elementary School: Basis for Intervention Program | Ascendens
Asia Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Abstracts (aaresearchindex.com)

A study of the effect of shift classes on reading age (richmond.edu)