Teachers are expected to carry out what Fred Greene referred to as the acts of teaching namely: logical acts, strategic acts, and institutional acts. 

The National Teacher Training Center for the Health Professions (NTTCHP) faculty were doing exactly these. We were busy with our classes, preparing for PAASCU accreditation, and had received university approval for a visiting professor. Six articles were up for peer review for a special Health Professions Education issue of the Philippine Journal of Health Research and Development. Educational workshops have been set months in advance. 

Then crisis struck, the world ground to a halt. The good news was, while on lock-down, two articles of Prof. Erlyn Sana were published.

The faculty were quick to shift gears from blended learning to pure online learning with zoom classes and online thesis defense. When online classes were suspended, our students continued to access the course sites and worked on individual outputs. Hence, logical and strategic acts of teaching continued.  A number of our students, alumni, and faculty have been doing their share by going on duty, serving as part of the management team in Philippine General Hospital and other hospitals, and doing volunteer services at UP or elsewhere. 

We realized our own vulnerability. No one was immune to this “Goliath that we cannot see.” Of the 16 NTTCHP faculty and staff, 14 were considered high-risk individuals. Students, alumni, and family members have become ill and few even became critical. Sadly, loved ones and respected mentors died. Grief and guilt gripped our hearts while terror crept into our minds. 
It was during this period of social distance and isolation that we grew closer and found support and comfort in each other. The NTTCHP family found itself fulfilling the third and most essential act. 

Together with the NTTCHP Student Council, we set up a weekly zoom meeting with students called, “Kumustahan at Kulitan ang Kasiyahan ng NTTCHP Family.” Quite a mouthful but extremely uplifting, our students admitted.  Our website now has a special page for COVID-19 information and psychosocial support hotline. The faculty and staff came up with a short video, “NTTCHP booster.” This was intended to give our students and alumni hope and instill faith as we claimed that the God who gave David victory over Goliath is the same God who will see us through this. 

At this time of pandemic, NTTCHP, more than ever, needs to fulfill the teacher’s acts it committed itself to do. 

Dr. Melflor Atienza  |  Published in Healthscape Special COVID-19 Issue No. 4