THE Department of Education (DepEd) reiterated in a congressional hearing that Secretary Leonor Briones has been diligently working to address errors found in the self-learning modules (SLMs).

In a hearing on the erroneous books and self-learning modules being used in public schools by the House Committee on Public Accounts, DEPED Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio renewed their appeal for public understanding following the unfortunate learning module mishaps.

From 163 reported errors, San Antonio admitted that DepEd recorded a total of 155 errors in their self-learning materials from October 2020 to June 2021 after thorough validation.

San Antonio said DepEd has been already taking actions and made necessary corrections on the questioned learning modules and advising teachers to be more careful in the use of self-learning materials.

He said the department also welcomed the efforts of netizens to call out the errors in the SLMs it had produced and printed in a rush to roll out distance learning for the present school year following the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic.

House Committee on Economic Affairs chair AAMBIS-OWA Party-list Rep. Sharon Garin expressed disappointment on the learning module problems.

Garin said the alarming situation where DepEd has been sharing incorrect information to millions of Filipino students through module blunders.

In the hearing, lawmakers grilled DepEd officials over errors in educational materials including “tubig sa thermometer” in a book and the definition of “aswang” in a module.

Antonio Calipjo Go, the complainant on the alleged errors of DepEd books in 2018, said in the hearing that the DepEd modules contained 1,308 errors.

“In fact hindi siya kailangang umabot ng 1,308 errors, isang error lang is all it needs to make a textbook defective,” Go said.

He also shared to the panel a 10-page self-learning module for Grade 10 students that he got from Pampanga.

“Aswang — siya rin ay isang diyos pero ang Aswang ay pinaniniwalaan na ito’y tao na kumakain ng kapwa tao, kung minsan ang mga ito ay pinaniniwalaan na may mga pakpak at sila raw ay gising kung gabi para maghanap ng maka___tot or maaaswang.”

“Imagine ‘yung bata pinababasa natin ng ganyang kasamang salita,” Go lamented.

San Antonio admitted that the word “k__tot” or sexual intercourse in is unacceptable and the subject module was already recalled last February.