EDITORIAL – Error-filled books haunt the nation again
Last May 23, in Guiguinto, Bulacan, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus assured the nation that books intended for public schools have already been properly evaluated and that they are error-free and available to every student. He said the books were printed in
Speaking to reporters after President Arroyo inspected books for distribution to public schools, Lapus said the Department of Education spent P1.2 billion for them and that these and teachers manuals are error-free, having been evaluated by experts from UP and Ateneo.
“The books underwent a five-step process before printing and copyrighting, so if there are errors DepEd should be blamed,” Lapus said. Well, it appears that Lapus spoke too soon. Last Saturday, May 31, the DepEd ordered the recall of at least two books for private schools.
Okay, the earlier assurance given by Lapus covered only books intended for distribution to public schools. But then, private schools are still under the DepEd, so how come what is good for the goose is not similarly good for the gander.
The DepEd order covers the books “Simply Science in the Next Century” from Grades I to VI and “Harnessing English Arts Today,” also from Grades I to VI. Both books were published by Phoenix Publishing House. The DepEd said they were shot with errors.
Since the books are intended for use in private schools, many, if not most, of them have already been distributed and in the hands of private school students, whose enrollments are held much earlier than their public school counterparts. Books are normally distributed then.
With the recall order comes a number of questions. One of the most obvious is what the private schools will use to replace the books and whether the DepEd still has time to make the switch. Another is whether the replacements will not be as error-filled as the ones replaced.
The bigger questions, of course, deal with the problem of when the government will finally be able to ensure that books used in all schools will be free of errors, and when it will finally be rid of the corruption that is at the root of this recurring mess.
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