The number of errors found in self-learning modules being reported to the Department of Education (DepEd) has been “decreasing,” a high ranking official of the agency said.

DepEd Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio told the Manila Bulletin that there was a “decrease” in the number of reported errors in self-learning modules (SLMs) and other learning materials this Second Quarter compared to the First Quarter.

“There was an improvement compared to the first quarter,” San Antonio said in Filipino. “We can see that there are fewer reported errors now and we hope to eliminate all these in the future,” he added.

To immediately address errors in learning materials, DepEd has formally launched its “Error Watch” initiative in October. The Office of the Undersecretary for Administration (OUA) said that “DepEd Error Watch” initiative in “response to numerous reports about errors found in learning materials” released by the DepEd.

The “DepEd Error Watch” is a mechanism used to receive and collate reports of errors found in different learning materials (i.e., Self-Learning Modules (SLMs), other printed materials, DepEd TV, DepEd Commons, DepEd TV YouTube Channel, etc.) and to forward these to the appropriate offices for validation and correction.

San Antonio said that for the Second Quarter grading period, “80 percent of SLMs” for were quality assured by the Central Office (CO). This, he added, is a “significant improvement” compared to the Quarter 1 when only around "50% of the SLMs" underwent quality assurance in the DepEd Central Office.

Since the classes for school year (SY) 2020-2021 formally started on Oct. 5, DepEd has been numerously called out for various errors found in its SLMs and other learning materials. DepEd said that majority of these are attributed to locally-produced SLMs and learning materials of “unknown origins.”

The types of error reported and verified by DepEd include factual errors; computational errors; format (font/illustration) errors, printing errors (color)/sorting of pages and spelling/punctuation; typographical errors; and errors on grammar/syntax.