The Futures of Leadership: Assessing the State of Governance in Talalora District amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The world was never the same again when COVID-19 came. For managers, business owners, and employees alike, it was like something they have not seen before. For school leaders, it was a challenging and overwhelming task to run the school amid the lockdowns and community quarantines. This study aimed to assess the state of governance in Talalora District, one of the 34 districts in the Division of Samar, through a descriptive-quantitative research design, the state of school operations, fiscal management, implementation of DepEd programs, projects, and activities, and human resource development. This study reveals the aspects such as late submission of reports, difficulty in communicating with teachers and school personnel because of intermittent internet connection, and a decrease in productivity were noted for teachers as they were overworked in accomplishing their tasks. The MOOE allocation per quarter is not enough to cover all school expenses as there are additional purchases such as COVID-19 kits, vitamins, and other measures to help stop the spread of the virus that should be included. The implementation of DepEd programs, projects, and activities was intensified and heightened because of the pandemic. The school community showed full participation, but teachers had experienced difficulty in implementing these because of some hindering factors such as limited resources and facilities. Furthermore, human resource development is not fully maximized as there are respondents who attended the same average number of trainings before the pandemic as they are now. While most training is centered on Learning and Development, training has now become scarce because of COVID-19.