DepEd official on error-ridden textbooks: ‘We’re all human’

A Department of Education official said errors in textbooks sometimes could not be avoided because "we are all human," but stressed that any error should be addressed and corrected by the concerned authorities.

"It's because we are all human. Ang sinasabi natin pagka nagkamali eh dapat gawan ng resolution at yan naman ay trabaho ng ating mga teachers with their teaching guide or their methodology na maitama rin ng mga teacher yung mga nakikita na sometimes ay typographical," Education Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla in a report by Cecille Villarosa on 24 Oras on Tuesday.

Sevilla was commenting on the hundreds of errors found in P254 million worth of Grade 3 textbooks and learning materials flagged by the Commission on Audit in its audit report for the department.

Sevilla said there were notes sent to teachers asking them to explain the errors spotted by the textbook committee during the review process. 

"Pero pag context or content, iba na ho 'yun, dapat talagang managot ang ating writer at ang mga manuscript developer kung content ang naging mali at ito ay na-print at nai-deliver sa mga bata," she said.

The COA report had observed that the errors were spotted in the learning materials "despite [their] undergoing the three-step review process of the Department."

The teachers are, indeed, having to make up for the textbooks' shortcomings. 

"Natutukoy talaga namin na may mga mali doon sa ating mga aklat...naghahanap tayo ng ibang reference materials at nagsasaliksik, nagre-research ang mga teachers para maitama ito," said Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) national chairperson Jocelyn Martinez in the report. 

Another Education Undersecretary, Nepo Malaluan, said in a separate 24 Oras report that some of these "errors" were just a matter of semantics.

"Some of these are not really downright errors, but sometimes semantics and editorial...you have a Commission on Audit that would now wish to substitute its editorial preferences to that of the Department of Education," he said.

ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro decried the errors that escaped the DepEd's notice.

"Teachers have been repeatedly told to learn financial literacy whenever they demand a substantial increase in their meager salaries, only to find out that the education agency itself has been inefficient and delinquent with the use of its funds," Castro said in a statement.

"We will investigate this matter and call for accountability to look into the delinquencies and the misuse of education funds."

The Senate will conduct a hearing into the matter on Wednesday. The DepEd said it welcomes the probe.

The COA report also noted that over 3.4 million books and other learning materials worth over P113 million had been left unused in DepEd warehouses that were "in very poor condition"—left idle for so long that they may already fall under the Irregular, Unnecessary, Excesive, Extravagant and Unconscionable expenditures.

'Notes to teachers'

In a statement on Tuesday evening, DepEd said that it will issue a memorandum that will have "notes to teachers" composed of "[v]alidated findings, description of errors found, and recommendations on how to correct these" gleaned from three workshops the department's Bureau of Learning Resources conducted "involving academicians and DepEd validators to validate comments and recommendations from the regions regarding learning resources and textbooks for Kindergarten to Grade 10." — BM/KBK, GMA News