DepEd admits new books riddled with errors

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) announced yesterday that a teachers’ guide would be issued to public elementary schools nationwide to correct the errors in newly purchased English textbooks.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said the teaching guides will help correct errors of the book “English for You and Me” Grades 1 to Six series, authored by Elodie Cada and published by Bookwise Publishing, which are being distributed to public schools.

“The teaching guides to correct errors in English textbooks are being finalized for printing,” Lapus told The STAR.

Lapus said that a content study of the textbooks conducted last February had confirmed the errors pointed out by textbook error watchdog Antonio Calipjo-Go, who said that the books contained more than 500 errors, including grammatical and conceptual ones.

The DepEd had earlier attempted to ignore Go’s claims that the textbooks were defective, saying that Go had taken many items out of context.

The DepEd used a $200-million loan from the World Bank to purchase the English for You and Me series and other books, which were supposed to have undergone a thorough four-level content evaluation by education experts to prevent errors.

DepEd selected the manuscript of publisher Bookwise as winning textbook manuscript in a bidding conducted last 2007. Bookwise started delivering the textbooks in 2008.

Go had exposed in 2004 the defects in the social studies textbook “Asya Noon, Ngayon at sa Hinaharap” published by SD Publications that prompted the DepEd to come out with a 21-page error guide. Go had also exposed several defective textbooks used in private schools, which were later banned.

Go welcomed the DepEd’s order to use error guides to correct the defective books.

He, however, claimed that the DepEd response was still wrong because the department ignores the deficiencies in their “much-ballyhooed” four-level textbook content evaluations that were supposed to ensure the procurement of quality books.

Socorro Pilor, chief of the DepEd’s Instructional Materials Council Secretariat (IMCS) that oversees the department’s procurement of textbooks and other instructional materials, said Bookwise would shoulder the cost of printing the teachers’ guides.

Pilor said DepEd would study what action to take against the DepEd evaluators that approved the defective books and also the book publisher.

DepEd reiterates ban on cell phones in class

Teresita Inciong, DepEd Assistant Secretary for Programs and Projects, reminded school officials to prohibit cellular telephones in public school classrooms.

She cited DepEd Order Numbers 83, series of 2003; 26 series of 2000 and 70 series of 1999, which imposed the ban on the use of cell phones by students during class hours.

“We understand the importance of cell phones in our daily activities, but still we have to set some rules on how to use them especially inside the classroom,” Inciong said.

Inciong stressed that there was no instruction for teachers or guards to confiscate the students’ cell phones.

“What we do is ask the students to switch off their cell phones during class hours and switch them back on after class,” Inciong explained.

Secretary Lapus expressed concern yesterday over reports that elementary school pupils are forced to carry heavy bags containing all their books to school everyday.

“We are going to investigate the reports to determine if the school children are carrying books that corresponds to their weight,” Lapus told reporters during the weekly news forum Daungan ng Balita at the Danarra Hotel in Quezon City.

Lapus said students should only carry books that correspond to their weight to prevent injuries. - With Perseus Echeminada