MANILA – To put an end to the prevalent “sagot-for-sale” scheme among students in distance learning, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education, and other academic institutions to investigate this scheme as there is a big chance that the same learning method will be used next school year.
“Kung hindi natin wawakasan itong sagot for sale at iba pang anyo ng pandaraya sa distance learning, lalong hindi matututo ang mga mag-aaral. At kapag nalusutan nila ito sa unang pagkakataon, uulit-ulitin na nila ang ganitong pandaraya. Dekalidad na edukasyon ang nakasalalay dito,” said Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture.
According to him, allowing “distance cheating” practices to prevail will produce students who do not only lack educational competencies but also integrity.
Teachers should also be capacitated enough to detect cheating in academic outputs as the senator stressed the importance of investing in assessment technologies to uphold academic integrity in digital education.
“Ang layunin natin sa pagpapatuloy ng edukasyon ay matiyak na ang ating mga kabataan ay hindi lamang natututo. Hinuhubog din natin sila para maging matapat, mahusay, at mapagkakatiwalaan,” Gatchalian said.
Under the sagot-for-sale scheme, parents pay someone to work on their children’s school requirements. This includes answering modules, making research papers, essays, and video editing. The fee ranges from P150 to P500 and paid through online banking or virtual wallets.
Those who offer these services use the hashtags #AcademicCommission, #AcademicWriting, and #AcademicService, among others on social media.
Those who accept commissioned academic works said they use what they earned for expenses related to home-based learning while parents, on the other hand, use what they earn to make ends meet./PN
