DepEd begins standardizing textbooks

Starting this year, the Department of Education (DepEd) will procure one textbook per subject, per year during the next five years as part of the effort to standardize textbooks in all public schools nationwide.

Education Undersecretary for Administration and Finance Juan Miguel Luz said the DepEd is giving all researchers a specific target on what topic they should be concentrating on.

"In this way, we would be saving money in research because we can now concentrate on one target every year," Luz said.

He said unlike in the previous years when they procured several different textbooks for students, the agency could not check the quality of books they were ordering.

But with the new plan drafted by the DepEd, officials can monitor the quality of books being printed, he said.

Luz said this year, the DepEd will be printing Makabayan textbooks while books for English, Pilipino, Mathematics and Science would be procured in 2006 to 2009 respectively.

Luz also said that as a start, each region will have one title of the book, per subject, per year. But eventually, the DepEd plans to standardize all titles, with only one title per textbook, per subject, per year nationwide.

He said that with the new procurement plan, the DepEd can surely resolve one of the main problems in the education sector, which is having multiple titles of textbooks on one subject.

Due to the multiple titles that reach public schools, officials tend to choose only one set of textbooks and put all other textbooks in storage rooms.

The DepEd is also currently trying to exchange the other titles with other public schools, Luz said.

He said that since the Book Development Law was signed during the mid- 1990s, the printing of textbooks for public schools was given to independent private publishers instead of the DepEd. Bidding was also made during those years.

However, since a different bidder wins every year, a different textbook is printed. As such public schools have multiple textbooks per subject in each grade or year level each year.

"We have talked with the publishers about the problem on multiple titles. That is why they agreed to the new program," Luz said.

Luz also denied that there is currently a shortage of textbooks.

"The problem lies in the distribution of the textbooks due to multiple titles," he explained. "That is why we have an exchange program on textbooks with public schools."