Gone are the days when one would rush to take a bath, eat, and commute during rush hours nor the days when one would conquer the dreadful staircase in the campus to rush to their next class. The online setup allowed students to take more control over their time. What would they rather do to utilize the ticks of the clock? Earn an income.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the educational landscape of the Philippines from a traditional face-to-face setup to remote learning. The changes in the country’s mode of learning also changed the situation of students as more of them started seeking jobs. In fact, based on an online survey floated on March 22 with working students as respondents, the majority of the respondents said that they started working during the pandemic.
Students like Nel Mercurio, Andrea Bernardo, and George Bartolome plan their own schedules to attend their lectures and modules, allowing time for their duties at work. Time management is crucial for working students like them, balancing every movement of the clock between their tasks in both school and work. But with academics, personal responsibilities, and a job in their hands, how do they manage to take control?
Based on the survey, students still prioritize their academics over their work. But for full-time workers like Andrea, there are times when they need to sacrifice school for work. “Everyday is a struggle to juggle school and work,” she said.
Andrea works as a copywriter for an international company during quiet hours when the rest of the world is asleep, keeping her eyes wide open from seven in the evening to four in the morning. This type of commitment in work really requires compromise. Sometimes, she doesn’t have the energy to attend classes and when she has exams on workdays, she asks to be excused from work.
She usually prioritizes the articles demanded by her work over her school requirements, she said, “I can’t afford to lose the job but I can manage with a few deductions in school activities.”
With a limited and often packed schedule in their hands, working students barely have time to socialize. If they could just, according to the words of Andrea, “split themselves into two” in order to attend to all responsibilities in life, they would. “I struggle to accomplish deadlines both in school and at work. I barely have time for social activities too,” Andrea added.
The significant increase of requirements has been a concern during the remote setup. When school deadlines and work duties collide, it can be very stressful for working students. Nel, a first year student from the University of the Philippines Baguio and a part-time cafe assistant said, “Nakaka frustrate kasi madami ka pang kailangang gawin pero need mo magtrabaho at the same time.” Working students are really challenged in terms of their ability to juggle work and school. “Need mo mag-grind nang bongga para matapos lahat ’yun,” he added.
Working students’ time management and productivity skills have been tested at a great height. As a way to manage his time and tasks, Nel prepares a checklist for the tasks he needs to accomplish within the day.
Nel works during weekends so he dedicates weekdays on school-related tasks. “Weekend lang din free time ko, tuwing umaga 7:00 to 9:00 ay naglilinis muna ako sa bahay namin at naglalaba bago pumasok sa trabaho, then duty na for six to eight hours.” If he has pending requirements, he exhausts his energy at night after his duty. Sometimes, he would even sacrifice his weekend, supposedly rest day, if he needs to comply with other requirements in school.
With his siblings still adjusting to their careers and his mother striving to pay loans, he opted not to add financial burden on his family and provide for himself instead. In addition, one of the challenges Nel encounters as a working student is budgeting. “Since minimum wage earner lang naman ako as a part-time student, hindi siya sakto sa weekly budget na iaallot mo para [sa expenses]. Since need mo icover lahat ng expenses mo, sa dulo wala kang extra savings kapag need mo ng extra funds,” he said.
However, he said that whenever he struggles financially, he can always turn to his family. “Inassure po ako ng family ko na susuportahan po nila ako,” he said. Though as much as possible, he would choose to work harder to sustain himself. Nel earns extra money by working extra hours at work which he then adds to his weekly budget. There are times when Nel is short of budget but during this difficult moment, he asks help from his sister.
Working students have different reasons as to why they opted to have a job – either to productively use their time or earn money for personal use. George, a sophomore student and a freelancer, belongs to the latter. “I started looking for opportunities just so I can earn since I don’t have any ‘baon.’ There were some things I needed to buy.”
As a freelancer, a laptop with great specs becomes your best friend so George worked hard to buy himself a new one. It wasn’t an overnight dream come true, rather he worked for months to buy himself a new gadget. “When I finally bought the laptop that I wanted, sobrang saya ko especially na it took months of kayod to achieve it.”
“It felt fulfilling, ’yung experience ng pag-bili and feeling the product of labor, pero the work itself does not feel fulfilling,” he expressed.
Other survey respondents said that they started working mainly to provide financial help to their family. Nel recognized the struggles this pandemic has brought about saying, “Some families are also struggling during this pandemic since dami ding nawalan ng trabaho kaya tulong tulong ang buong family sa pagkuha ng pera for expenses.” True enough, the pandemic caused many Filipinos to lose their jobs and the demands of online classes such as internet access, gadgets, etc. may cost too much on top of the basic necessities.
Andrea said that with the flexibility of academic schedule, students can opt for in-person jobs. “Since it’s not required to attend synchronous classes, some can even have face-to-face jobs, which is a big help considering the financial crisis the pandemic caused,” she said.
For now, Andrea, Nel, and George will continue to juggle their time between work and study in order to earn an income amidst the online setup. Yet, when the time comes that students are finally back to rush hours and daily commutes to attend face-to-face classes, it will be another story of struggle for students like them. Since they can’t split themselves into two, the reopening of schools means prioritizing one over the other.
“I can’t say for sure what working would be like while going to school physically, but I’ll try to make it work somehow because I don’t have any other choice,” Andrea stated. She added, “At worst, I’d either take a LOA [leave of absence] to save up first, or quit my job to look for more flexible options.”
Nel, on the other hand, said that if the traditional setup pushes through, he will quit his part time job and look for scholarships instead to provide for his allowance. “If possible na po ulit ang face to face, aalis na rin po ako sa part time [job] ko. Habang nagtatrabaho po ako, naghahanap din po ako ng scholarships para kapag face-to-face na po, may additional allowance na po ako.”
However, he will not close the doors if someone gives him an opportunity to work as long as it is within Baguio, where his university is.
Andrea, Nel, and George are just faces of the students who work as full-timers, part-timers, and freelancers. Being a working student requires commitment, time management, energy, and determination. The demand of the current time is forcing students to go back and forth between work and study just to fill the ticks of the clock.
Comments