Following viral photos of a module perceived to put Vice President Leni Robredo in a bad light, the Department of Education (DepEd) on Friday, April 8, assured that it is doing what it can to remind its officials and personnel --- including teachers --- not to engage in partisan politics.

Issuing a statement, DepEd said that it was alerted over a particular portion of a DepEd Self-Learning Module (SLM) making references to Robredo that “some observers may be taken against the Vice President” --- especially at this election period.

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https://mb.com.ph/2022/04/08/how-could-you-deped-called-out-over-a-learning-module-putting-vp-leni-in-a-bad-light/

DepEd said that it has referred the matter to the Executive Committee members in charge of field operations as well as curriculum and instruction.

The material, DepEd said, was validated to have come from its Schools Division Office of Manila.

DepEd said that its Manila Division office already provided the information about the material as well as actions are taken.

Based on the report from DepEd Manila Division, the material was a “locally produced” material published in September 2020. This, DepEd said, was meant for use as SLM for SY 2020-2021 at a time when fully reviewed SLMs from the Central Office were “not yet available.”

“In light of the concerns raised, the Division Office immediately directed their school heads to retrieve hard copies of the said SLM, and the digital copy was also removed from the Learning Resource Management online portal of the Division,” DepEd said.

DepEd added that the Division Office was able to identify the writer for the module but the writer “passed away” in 2020.

The Division office, DepEd said, also expressed its apology for “any harm that the incident may have caused” to individuals or groups.

“It committed to strictly abide by the quality control and conformance review process set by the Department when developing and producing learning modules,” DepEd added.

Meanwhile, DepEd said that it has consistently responded to matters raised regarding its learning resources and addressed these through corrections, withdrawal from circulation, and/or investigation of persons concerned, as deemed necessary.

DepEd also assures the public as well as candidates in the upcoming elections that “we are exerting all efforts to warn our officials and personnel, including teachers, against participating in partisan politics.”