To help younger students in many parts of the country understand television-based instructions better, the Department of Education (DepEd) is planning to dub the episodes in its DepEd TV into various major dialects.
DepEd Undersecretary Alain Pascua, in an Aide Memoire dated Sept. 18, said that the department will produce episodes for pupils in the Primary Levels or from Kinder to Grade 3 “that make use of the major dialects in the country to make them more effective for learning.”
Aside from this, Pascua said that all TV episodes will also have Filipino Sign Language “embedded in the lectures to make them accessible to the hearing impaired.”
The DepEd TV will air from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Monday to Saturday. Each episode will cover 20 minutes of lecture and a 5-minute break after each episode.
Pascua said that the initial program grid that will be aired on Oct. 5 will include 130 unique episodes for the major subject areas with some replays. This program grid, he added, will be adjusted when the DepEd increases its capacity to produce 220 episodes per week covering all the subject areas.
Currently, Pascua said that the DepEd TV is having a final test broadcast on Sept. 21 to 25 via IBC-13 and other partner networks. This is being done to prepare the DepEd for the “logistical challenges” of airing 130 episodes per week when classes for School Year (SY) 2020-2021 formally start.
Pascua noted that the recent restrictions in face-to-face classes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic “have shown the importance of adopting alternative ways to deliver education.”
Under its Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP), Pascua said that DepEd defined four modalities for distance learning using print-based self-learning modules, online learning, TV, and radio-based instructions.