EVERY now and then we hear of reports and/or complains about errors in the modules of learners. The latest of these errors out the country’s Vice President in a bad light. The issue is but one of the many problems found in many locally-produced Department of Education (DepEd) learning modules since the distance learning was first implemented in 2020.
As usual, DepEd Central Office refuses to take accountability and plays the blame game against its teachers and its local offices.
The root cause of these problems is the DepEd Central Office’s failure to produce and provide the standard modules needed in all subjects and grade levels in a timely manner, and passing on this very important responsibility to its local offices, thereby opening up a gargantuan space for the proliferation of erroneous materials.
At fault again is the DepEd Central Office for its lack of a stringent vetting process given the localization of module production. This also puts into question the efficiency of the Deped’s so-called quality assurance process which it claimed to have been improved since January 2021 in light of the many errors in learning modules that have been publicly exposed.
Our teachers, while it is beyond their job description and formal training to write and edit learning materials, were burdened with this task without any due compensation, and worse, used as the Department’s scapegoat whenever problems on module quality came up.
Learning materials play a crucial role in delivering quality education and in fulfilling the education’s goal of promoting truth, critical thinking, and patriotism, and against illiteracy, unscientific thinking, and all forms of discrimination. This duty, in the final analysis, foremost lies on the top leadership of the Department of Education. It is only reasonable to demand from them to take full responsibility and accountability on the issue of learning module production and all other concerns related to it.
