The Philippine National Police (PNP) vowed on Tuesday, September 21, to assist the Department of Education (DepEd) in addressing the issue of ‘online cheating’ allegedly done by students online amid the distance learning scheme.
The issue, dubbed as ‘online kopyahan’, was raised by DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones, noting that there are some groups on Facebook that share the answers for modules and other examinations.
PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar said he had already tasked the Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) to coordinate with the DepEd to determine how the police could help.
The School Year 2021-2022 already began despite the COVID-19 pandemic, with the distance learning scheme being observed in schools nationwide.
Briones had said any form of cheating will never be tolerated by the agency.
“Education is the most important part of one’s life because as American civil rights activist Malcolm X once said, it is a passport to the future and that the future belongs to those who prepare for it today,” said Eleazar.
“Like what we have been implementing in the PNP through our Intensified Cleanliness Policy, we are ready and serious to help to address this as soon as possible because if on this stage cheating is already normal, then nothing would happen to our country on the hands of the hope of this nation,” he added.
The Chief PNP was referring to the aggressive reform programs which he initiated when he assumed the top police post in May this year through the Intensified Cleanliness Policy that is anchored on the broken windows theory which states that small problems must be addressed immediately to prevent them from getting worse.
One of the important initiatives of the Chief PNP under ICP is to ensure an honest recruitment system—which was started in May via nameless and faceless recruitment under a QR Code System.
This effectively prevented the padrino system in the recruitment system which paved the way for a number of unqualified recruits to enter the PNP and eventually led to some policemen being involved in illegal activities.
“To the students and parents, education is not about competition on who is the brighetest and who learns the fastest. So learn in an honest way and at your own pahse because as what we have been hearing from our teachers: educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all,” said Eleazar.