First Week Of Distance Learning Puts Textbook Errors In The Spotlight

The first week of public school opening started off well. The Department of Education had been preparing hard for distance learning since quarantine was enforced, and it provided daily updates on its social platforms. The day before the October 5 opening, DepEd released its programming slate and the television channels where to catch DepEd TV.

READ MORE STORIES ON LEARNING AT HOME:

• Starting At P134 A Month, Subscription Fee Guide For Distance Learning Online Sites
• Parents Need To 'Detach' When It Comes To Distance Learning

Spotted textbook errors

Unfortunately, before the week was over, a math equation with an erroneous solution aired on DepEdTV, marring the class opening (read more here).

It was not the first time that DepEd was called out on questionable content on educational materials. In 2016, one science textbook contained 775 errors. And if the items we spotted below is any indication, DepEd has their work cut out for them.

"Dirty" names and disturbing content

Pining Garcia, Abdul Salsalani, Malou Wang, and Tina Moran. To a child, it may be nothin. (Read more about it here.)

Round off to the nearest ten thousand

Another math problem. There is no "23,00," and rounding off 23,945 to the nearest ten thousand is 20,000. 

Hugot bugtong series

"Kapag ang katawan mo'y nag-init, lagina lang ako ang hinahanap mo. Maya't-maya mo akong ginagamit at pinapagod hindi ka na naawa. Sagot: aircon" 

"Ginawa ko lahat para sumaya ka. Mahirap ba talgang makontento sa isa? Bakit pali[at-lipat ka? Sagot:TV"

True or false in Filipino

It's not an error, but the addition of "ganern" and "ganern" in this Filipino book is not appropriate. 

All skin colors are beautiful

This one is from two years ago: "Unlike most Filipinos, she has curly hair that makes her more beautiful. She looks mestiza with her pointed nose and white, fair skin."

Gender bias

Another one from two years ago: We would like to think that gender equality has improved decades ago. 

Grayscale crayons

How to learn colors when the textbook is black and white?

What does an airplane sound like? 

It's hard to choose the right answers among sounds that don't sound like an airplane. 

READ MORE STORIES ON LEARNING AT HOME:

• Starting At P134 A Month, Subscription Fee Guide For Distance Learning Online Sites
• Parents Need To 'Detach' When It Comes To Distance Learning

See more textbook errors, here and here.