Stuck in a Lockdown: Filipino Students' Odyssey of Resilience

Abstract

<p style="text-align: justify;">The COVID-19 outbreak in the Philippines forced schools to close. Many Filipino students were stranded in their dormitories and boarding houses due to government-imposed lockdowns. As the study's impetus, the researchers explored the phenomenon of stranded students during a pandemic. A transcendental phenomenological inquiry was conducted in Northern Mindanao, Philippines, to disclose the experiences of six stranded students. Stranded students' lifeworld throughout the lockdown was documented through phenomenological interviews. The phenomenological reduction technique was used to transcribe and analyze the data. Provisional codes were used to classify critical statements into themes for the initial analysis of the interview data. The research revealed the themes of (a) groping in the dark, (b) journeying towards the light, and (c) welcoming the breaking dawn. The various stages of reality in the life of the stranded students are shown in these topics. They relate the story of how their confinement experience taught them to be resilient, which covers resilience as a process. The paper discusses numerous pedagogical implications of the phenomenon.</p>