Content errors rectified immediately

Antonia C. Labos

THE Department of Education (DepEd) has assured that content errors found inappropriate in self-learning modules shall be rectified inmediately.

This was after singer Lea Salonga scored the agency for demonizing people with tattoos in one of their SLMs.

The corrections, according to DepEd, will be rectified via an issuance from the concerned Regional Director if the SLM is used in the whole region.

While the DepEd conformed that the module was quality-assured by the Central Office (CO), an “erratum” has been issued related to it.

A lot of people were dismayed over the learning material, which puts people with tattoos in bad light, implying that tattoos might be symbols of being a criminal. The module features this multiple choice question:

“Ang tattoo ay simbolo ng ____.

A. pagiging kriminal,

B. pagkaalipin,

C. kagitingan at kagandahan, at

D. pagiging mababa ng katayuan sa lipunan.”

The correct answer, based on the key provided in the module, was “Letter A.” The DepEd admitted that the answer key was “wrong” and that an erratum has already been issued. While the module was quality assured by the DepEd Central Office, some items “might have been overlooked.”

In the past, DepEd had been under fire for several errors found in modules. These usually are posted by netizens on social media. An example is an illustration showing an owl as an “ostrich.”

The DepEd said that as a matter of policy, the errors found in SLMs under distance/blended learning are rectified as soon as possible.

Time constraints are one of the reasons why some SLMs did not pass through quality assurance of the CO.

According to the DepEd, efforts are to be exerted by the teachers to clarify such errors in succeeding lesson materials or while communicating with the learners and parents.

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The author is OIC-Head Teacher III at Conrado P. Macapinlac Sr. High

School