PASIG CITY, August 15, 2019 – Speaking before the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts, and Culture, Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones underscored that the some of the reported errors in textbooks are “matters of usage and editorial preference,” while ensuring the strong commitment of the Department to improve the its systems.

This is in response to the 2018 Annual Audit Report of the Commission on Audit (COA), which flagged “various errors” in some of the learning materials (LMs). In the same report, and acting on the alleged textbook errors, the audit team “obtained copies of the subject LMs and assessed the gravity of these alleged errors.”

“I will not argue about the grammatical errors. But how about style? How about usage?” Briones posited, as she shared her observation that while there were errors such as spelling, many of the words and phrases noted by the audit team as erroneous were matters of usage and editorial preference.

The table below presents the notable errors/deficiencies found by the audit team.

Summary of Errors/Deficiencies in Learner’s Materials

Reference Deficiencies Noted by the Audit Team Remarks
Araling Panlipunan Learner’s Material
page 61

 

Sa Batangas naman matatagpuan ang pinakamaliit na bulkan ang bulkang Taal na nakalubog sa lawa ng Taal. Sa Batangas naman

matatagpuan ang

pinakamaliit na bulkan,

ang Bulkang Taal, na nasa

gitna ng Lawa ng Taal.

page 365

 

Ang mga karagatang nakapalibot sa mga lalawigan ng Bataan, Aurora, at Zambales Ang Aurora at Zambales

ay hindi napapalibutan ng

dagat.

page 444

 

Narito ang kailangang makamit upang makatakbo sa eleksiyon.

 

Narito ang mga

kwalipikasyon ng isang

nagnanais na lumahok sa

eleksiyon.

page 26

 

Isa itong pulo ng mahigit sa 7,100 na mga isla. Isa itong Arkipelago na

binubuo ng mahigit sa

7,100 na mga isla.

page 86

 

Ang buong bansa ay nakatungtong sa tinatawag na Pacific Ring of Fire. Ang buong bansa ay

nakapaloob sa tinatawag

na Pacific Ring of Fire.

page 87

 

Saan kaya mataas ang pagkakataon ng pagguho ng lupa sa tag-ulan? Saan kaya mataas ang

posibilidad ng pagguho ng

lupa kung tag-ulan?

page 27

 

Ang lupa mula dito ay unti-unting tumataas maliban na lamang sa ilang lugar

 

Major error: tumataas ang

lupa

 

page 101

 

Tulad ng pagawa ng emergency kit

 

paggawa

 

page 374

 

Ang karamihan sa mga tao ay namumuhay at umiikot sa produksiyon ng palay Needs improvement:

umiikot

 

page 383

 

Ang Oriental Mindoro ay 45 minuto mula sa pandaigdigang daungan ng Batangas kaya’t ito ang dinadaan ng Roll-On-R0ll-Off (RORO) na barko upang madala ang mga produkto mula sa isang lalawigan patungo sa ibang lalawigan Erroneous:

-Pandaigdigang Daungan

-dinadaan

 

English Learner’s Material
Tale of Contents The table of contents merely indicates the title of the stories, the topics are not

indicated.

 

Needs improvement

 

pages 1 to

363

The LM contains activities/exercises only without discussion of topics/lessons.
pages 3, 17

and 175

Repetitive activities on “Phrase Or Sentence”
pages 18

and 175

Repetitive activities on “Recycling of Garbage”
Science Learner’s Material written in Tagalog
pages 28

and 32

tubig sa loob ng thermometer

 

Erroneous
page 43 ang retina ay parang kurtina na tumatakip sa mata Erroneous

“How about the difference between a common noun and a proper noun? An observation in a Grade 3 textbook,’pandaigdigang daungan’ is a common noun and, therefore, it is in lowercase. The audit observation said it should be capital ‘P’ and capital ‘D’,” Briones said.

In any case, DepEd, through the Bureau of Learning Resources, conducted a series of workshops from March to June this year to validate the comments and recommendations from the regions on the Kindergarten to Grade 10 learning resources currently in use.

Briones likewise shared that the Department will revisit the textbook review system to identify areas for enhancement, such as expanding its authority in view of Republic Act 8047, or the Book Publishing Industry Development Act.

“This is an area, we believe, that the Senate and the rest of the legislation can be of help because the law, passed by two or three administrations ago, has certain conditions and complicates the issue. Makatulong talaga kung i-review itong batas na ito,”

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, and members, Senators Pia Cayetano and Nancy Binay, expressed support to work with DepEd on its legislative proposals to ensure that textbooks are error-free.

END