DepEd expects minimal errors on educational TV shows, seeks public's understanding as it vows to improve them

On Thursday, the Department of Education (DepEd) said that they are expecting slight and minimal errors in their succeeding educational TV shows, saying that the production team is “not perfect.”

Photo credit: facebook.com

Last Tuesday, DepEd trended again online after some netizens noticed a teacher- broadcaster on DepEd TV who taught the wrong solution for a math equation. In episode 56, students were asked to solve the linear equation 2x=0. However, instead of using two as the divisor, the formula used zero, leading to an undefined answer.

The cirulating video has so far got 26,000 reactions and 31,000 shares. The math error was aired on DepEd TV through IBC-13. The entire episode was also uploaded on the Facebook page of IBC-13.

DepEd Undersecretary for Administration Alain Pascua recognized that there was indeed an error on the solution and vowed to improve the episodes they produce. 

Pascua said there would be errors in future episodes because the production team, with less than 200 workers, was tasked to create around 130 to 220 episodes per week in just a short amount of time.

Pascua apologized to students, parents and teachers but appealed for the public to also notice their teams' efforts. 

If the public is looking for perfect episodes, give us so much time, 

This is not even the last time that there will be errors. There will always be errors, I assure you, because we are not perfect, 

We have been here for just 4 or 5 months. We are not really journalists and broadcasters in this line of work. Our teachers are still being trained to be teacher-broadcaster,

Pascua said.

Pascua explained that there are over 40 steps in the production of an episode, which included quality assurance from subject-matter experts. The department has also sought the help of additional subject experts and volunteers from other sectors for quality assurance.

Hindi ito palagi [may error], pero may mga makakalusot at makakalusot na ganiyan dahil we are not living in a perfect world. Pero ginagawa naming lahat ng paraan para maiayos natin itong mga TV episodes natin,

he said. 

[There will always be errors but not always, because we are not living in a perfect world. But we are doing everything to improve our TV episodes.]

Pascua expressed optimism with the public’s criticisms, citing the importance of better quality control. He also urged the public to continue giving criticisms and spotting errors in DepEd TV episodes so these would be corrected.