DepEd admits not all modules underwent proofreading, considers hiring more checkers

On Thursday, the Department of Education (DepEd) acknowledged that not all the self-learning modules that were distributed to the learners for its distance learning underwent "quality assurance" screening.

Photo credit: commons.deped.gov.ph

Following the several posts on social media, netizens had pointed to such errors as students being instructed to match crayons with their respective color names despite the module being printed in black and white. In another module, students were asked to find the letter “L” in the word “rabbit.” Other modules have an owl as the picture but named as ostrich and more.

Nevertheless, the agency apologized for learning module errors that slipped past their quality assurance protocols. Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said while they try "very hard" to screen everything, some erroneous items still slip through.

Hindi lahat ng self-learning modules... ay dumaan sa aming quality assurance sa Central Office. At kahit po yung mga dumaan sa amin, may mga nasisilip po na hindi tama. Kasama po 'yan sa mga hindi tamang pag-present ng lesson na kailangang bigyan ng pagsasaayos,

San Antonio said. 

[Not all self-learning modules underwent quality assurance in the Central Office. Even those that were screened contained errors. These erroneous presentation of lessons need to be addressed.]

Also, San Antonio asked the public to check and validate first if the printed modules containing errors are from DepEd, since materials from private educational institutions are beyond the department's control.

Hindi pa rin namin completely naba-validate kung 'yung mga pages ng mga self-learning modules na 'yan ay gawa namin sa DepEd o nakita sa private sector counterpart... Wala po kaming kaalam-alam doon,

he said. 

[We haven't completely validated if the pages of the said self-learning modules that contained errors came from DepEd or from the private sector. We don't know.]

Like for instance the module that went viral, used provocative names or 'dirty names.' After an investigation, it came out that it’s from a private school and not DepEd.

Meanwhile, DepEd is already looking into the possibility of hiring more proofreaders to address the problem. They called on curriculum experts to volunteer and help in editing and correcting module errors. It also requested the public to determine the origin of modules with erroneous information so they could be traced and corrected.