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September 22, 2021 – Even before the pandemic, cheating has always presented a challenge to the education system. The Department of Education denounces any form of academic dishonesty. Recently, we have monitored that answers to self-learning modules (SLMs) are uploaded on Facebook groups dubbed as Online Kopyahan, which seemingly lure learners as manifested by its massive following.

The Department does not tolerate the perpetuation of cheating regardless of the learning delivery modality. We are now exhausting all possible means to put a stop to these activities. We have already sought the assistance of social media companies to ban these groups and prevent similar attempts of academic dishonesty that promote laziness, irresponsibility, and instant gratification.

The Department has designed SLMs to help our learners keep track of their progress, and their responses provide information about how well they understood a lesson before proceeding to the next. Although these activities are not graded, learners are encouraged to demonstrate what they can and cannot do without feeling obligated to always get it right. Mistakes are understandable in the learning process, and the learner’s capacity to learn from them while striving for excellence is vital to their holistic development.

In this line, we appeal to parents, teachers, and learners to help us eradicate online cheating, which undermines the development of values and morality among the youth. It demeans the quality of education that the Department is committed to improve.

Let us remain steadfast in protecting our shared goal of nurturing holistically developed learners by making the home and school as enabling environments for character development.

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