The Department of Education refuted the claim of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers that there were modules delivered late and can no longer be used by the students under the distance learning setup.
During a virtual press briefing on the Updates on Education Thursday, DepEd Undersecretary and Chief of Staff Atty. Nepomuceno Malaluan said that “funds for the printing of the Self-Learning Modules (SLMs) are downloaded to the regional offices, divisions, and schools,” thus, the printing of the learning materials is being done on the local level.
“The system now of learning resources is we have downloaded to the regions the funds, the printing does not come from the Central Office,” Malaluan said.
He added that it is “implausible” to say that in a certain region, SLMs are coming in later since classes have already started in October. “What were these schools using then?” he asked.
Malaluan noted that there must have been SLMs that were distributed on the ground. “Obviously, on the surface of it, that cannot be true and it is a disputable claim,” he added.
ACT called out DepEd Thursday for the “wasted funds” on delayed modules, particularly in Ilocos. The group said that they received reports of “delayed delivery” of modules from Region 1 coming from the Central Office.
ACT alleged that these modules contained topics which the students have already “finished studying” in the past weeks.
“Despite its continued claim of scarcity of funds, it is the DepEd Central Office who leads in wasting money, ink and paper on module print-outs,” ACT National Spokesperson Benjamin Valbuena said.
Valbuena also claimed that these modules “can no longer serve their intended purpose as they came so many weeks late and the teachers and schools have already made ways to provide students with learning materials.”