The Department of Education (DepEd) said today that a “systematic” reporting will be established in an effort to promptly address the concerns on erroneous learning materials under distance learning.
DepEd key officials, during the “Handang Isip, Handa Bukas” virtual press briefing, said that the agency will launch more channels where the public can report issues related to the self-learning materials (SLMs) used by students under the distance and blended learning implemented this school year (SY) 2020-2021.
Undersecretary for Administration Alain Pascua said that an “error watch” campaign will be launched by DepEd to monitor all reports concerning the learning materials, whether printed, TV, or radio-based instruction.
“We are doing this to make a systematic process in the reporting errors,” Pascua said. He noted that an email address solely for reporting errors will be made available and that this will also help DepEd determine the errors that can be attributed to the agency “or if these are just fake news” which aim to attack the department. “We would rather receive reports directly from our stakeholders,” he added.
Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio explained that DepEd continuously monitors that status of its learning resources.
“So far, we have gathered 35 screen shots or instances with errors,” San Antonio said. While there are errors that can be directly attributed to the Central Office, he noted that at least “18 instances” can be traced to locally-prepared SLMs while there are also those of “unknown origins or sources.”
San Antonio explained that his department will also launch a separate Facebook page that will solely and directly address all concerns on self-learning modules and other issues related to curriculum and instruction.
Since classes started last week, DepEd has been at the receiving end of criticisms regarding the SLMs. Photos of an episode broadcast on DepEd TV on Oct. 6 showing a wrong solution to a Math problem have become viral. Upon review, DepEd acknowledged this and issued an apology.
Several photos of erroneous modules have been making rounds online. DepEd said that it is very important to “verify first” if these are indeed materials that were produced by the agency. DepEd also urged the public to report errors and other concerns directly to the department for appropriate action.