January 24, 2007 Posted in: Governance, In the News

Public school textbook riddled with errors

WHEN school opens this year, nearly a million error-riddled textbooks will yet again be supplied to public schools nationwide. This was revealed by Antonio Go, the educator who blew the whistle on errors foundin a History textbook two years ago, in yesterdays Senate hearing on the textbook scam. Go, the academic supervisor of the Marian School of Quezon City, said the newly approved public school textbook on Social Studies, Ang Bagong Pilipino, has more than 100 errors. Why had this been allowed to happen? said Go, who has been reviewing defective textbooks for 10 years now. This is the biggest error, teaching children things that are wrong. Department of Education (DepEd) officials who attended the inquiry said they will look into the errors. Read Antonio Gos position paper. One of the factual errors pointed out by Go was the complete name of the weather bureau PAGASA spelled as Philippine Atmospheric, Geographical and Astronomical Administration. PAGASA stands for Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. Another error is the word sangko, defined in the book as the term for the third eldest female sibling, when it should be male. The book also calls the body of water look (bay) as gulf, a totally different body of water, and which is called gulpo in Filipino. Even the maps are erroneous, Go said, as the National Capital Region is positioned in the middle of Laguna Bay and the province of Batangas is halved in two. The book, intended for Grade 3 pupils, is written by Expectacion Castor Gonzales and published by a Korean firm, Daewoo International Supply Corp. This set of books is part of 12 million textbooks for Grades 1 to 5 funded by the World Bank. The World Bank-funded project has been the subject of controversy following a case against one of the publishers for possible conflict of interest. The books have been kept in warehouses since last year following a lower court decision stopping the delivery to the district offices of the Department of Education (DepEd). The books were supplied by Daewoo, Vibal Pubishing House, and a Thai company, Watana Phanit Printing & Publishing. Go further revealed that 50 percent of all public school textbooks on English, Filipino, and Social Studies are defective or full of errors. He said these were his findings after studying all grade school level textbooks. DepEd, Go explained, had given him a complete list of approved textbooks currently being used in all public schools. He said he has yet to review elementary-level Science and Math textbooks. Despite the assurance from the DepEd that textbook evaluation is now being conducted on four levels, this is still the quality of content we are getting, Go said. The DepEd institutionalized a four-level evaluation process for textbooks following Gos expos in 2004. The evaluation includes the study of learning competencies; accuracy of content; presentation, vocabulary, language and use of visuals; and grammar. DepEd said the screeming process also now includes evaluators from reputable colleges and universities.

These (books) are for gradeschool students, purportedly written by Phds, said Harry Roque, counsel of one of the losing bidders, during the senate hearing. Why do these mistakes occur despite the evaluation process allegedly implemented by DepEd? Roque added, The fact that these errors are still so prevalent already indicates that there is now a need to revisit the evaluation process. Roque also said that DepEd should make the evaluation process more transparent to prevent further errors like those found by Go. The existing process of evaluation is so secretive, it breeds graft and corruption. Go has said that he is willing to work with the education department to correct the errors. These errors have be corrected to minimize the damage, he said. Go said the new editions of the controversial book Asya: Noon, Ngayon at sa Hinaharap still contains some of the errors he discovered and exposed in 2004. Publisher Vibal in 2005 issued a supplemental handbook more than one million copies free of charge to replace Asya, even as it published an open letter in 2004 describing Gos allegations as nothing more than a perverted and vicious assault upon the honor and integrity of the authors. Go has incurred two libel suits from two authors of Asya and two more from Phoenix Publishing in 2005, following another expos on two of the firms 12 books. Below is an excerpt from Gos Ninety-five Theses of Textbook Reform which he says will help the government in implementing changes in what he calls the countrys perennially chaotic textbook procurement program: Access to textbooks There should be one textbook per pupil/student per subject in all public schools DepEd should prescribe a single title per subject, per grade or year level in all schools within a region Textbook procurement DepEd must procure quality textbooks Bidding and awarding of contracts must be monitored by a body outside of DepEds own Bids and Awards Committee Texbooks shall be procured every five years The bidding and awarding of contracts of foreign-assisted porojects must be monitored and regulated The distribution and delivery of books must be closely monitored Process of evaluation A two step process of evaluation should be implemented where there will be two evaluators from the private sector and two reviewees from DepEd Evaluators must not include DepEd employees Reviewers and evaluators must not be related in any way to any of the authors or publisher of the book which they are reviewing Identites of both evaluators and reviewers must be revealed Textbook standards All previously approved titles must undergo review and re-evaluation In the area of content, the following should be taken into account: factual errors, conceptual errors, biases and prejudices, negative influences on moral virtues and values All textbooks approved by DepEd should contain no more than 20 grave errors Legislative intervention

A law must be passed declaring the making of defective textbooks a crime with a corresponding punishment A Textbook Reform and Development Commission must be installed The practice of the three-shift session (three classes using the same classromm one after the other in one day) must be discontinued Every citizen must be given the right to look into the quality of textbooks being used in public school without fear of harassment or retaliation

http://pcij.org/blog/2007/01/24/social-studies-textbook-riddled-with-errors

Antonio Calipjo Go
Antonio Calipjo Go is a private school owner best known for exposing factual, grammatical and logical errors in textbooks used in public schools in the Philippines. He publicly championed reforms in Philippine education by rectifying errors in textbooks, condemning various authors, academic, publishers, educational institutions and agencies under the Department of Education (DepEd). His exposs led to the discovery of an alleged cartel in the Philippine textbook publishing business, as well as probable evidence of irregularities and corruption in some DepEd agencies.
Contents
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1 Advocacy 2 Results 3 Support 4 Criticism 5 Cases 6 Personal life 7 References 8 Citation

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Advocacy

Calipjo Go sought the revision of numerous school books in both English and Filipino by listing down the errors and submitting them to be published in local broadsheets like the Philippine Daily Inquirer. These articles detail the errors in textbooks developed by NISMED and published by various local companies.

Some of these commentaries describe the process of the books' development and the resources poured into making them, as well as the length of time the books have been in circulation. [edit]

Results

Calipjo Go's allegations led to a series of investigations that led to a possible monopoly held by Vibal Publishingand its sister companies. DepEd records show that 75.96% of the money spent by the government for textbooks went to Vibal Publishing, which amounts to PhP2.65 billion. Rival publishers such as Rex Publishing protested the bidding, although the publishing house's general manager Don Buhain expressed his frustration at the futility of the move. Anomalies have also come to light involving the Inter-Agency Bids and Awards Committee (IABAC) and the International Competitive Bidding in 2005, such as delayed execution of due process, interlocking shares among bidders and the quiet retraction of disqualifications of Vibal and Watana Phanit due to conflict of interest. Screenshots of a some text messages that circulated in the DepEd allege that the bidding evaluators had been bribed, but the IMCS official stated that she refused the offer. [edit]

Support

Go received support from various entities apart from the PDI, including the Freedom from Debt Coalition, People Against Illegitimate Debts and Youth Against Debt. DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro recently expressed his support for Go with a visit to Marian School of Quezon City, where the latter works as an academic supervisor.

[edit]

Criticism

The NISMED gave a reply to the PDI in reaction to Go's article, detailing the reasons behind the errors which include insufficient funding and limited time. NISMED further criticized Go's campaign as inconstructive, for he uses words such as 'downright silly' and 'stupid'. The article also challenged Go to produce a similar book with the same constraints in resources and time. Dennis Gonzales, Chairman of the National Book Development Board, reacted too. He questioned the validity of Go's implications. Additionally, Gonzales mentioned that PDI refused to print both NISMED's and his reactions. Gonzales questioned Go's credibility, citing that the former has yet to develop books of his own. Federico Reyno, editorial consultant of JC Palabay Enterprises Inc., expressed his disapproval of Go's methods. He stated that Go is merely pointing out the errors and is not offering any suggestions to fix the problem. Reyno also noted that reporters have a tendency to sensationalize Go's articles. Roberto Aonuevo opined that he sees the matter to be motivated by politics than any desire to aid education in the Philippines.

Furthermore, Aonuevo wrote that unless Go goes through the necessary channels, he will never be taken seriously. [edit]

Cases

Authors from Vibal Publishing filed two libel suits against Go. Additionally an extortion and a light civil suit were filed against him by the Phoenix Publishing. Although each of these cases were dismissed, the extortion case was reopened. [edit]

Personal life

Go is the son of Chinese entrepreneurs, and when he declared that he is quitting his advocacy, he cited his mother as one of the reasons. Go's mother had an accident and he expressed that taking care of her will be his priority. Go does not have a college degree, which has been cited by his critics as a mark against his credibility. He expressed that his crusade aga

The blind leading the blind

By Antonio Calipjo Go Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 04:03:00 06/21/2010 Filed Under: Education, Books

?Biology? is the unimaginatively simple title of the textbook which is used in the subject Science and Technology by second year high school students of public secondary schools nationwide. This 358-page textbook about a very complex subject is used ?both as textbook and laboratory manual.? (Prentice Hall?s ?Biology: Life on Earth? is 923 pages long.) The first edition, published in 1990, and all subsequent editions of this book, whether revised (2004) or merely reprinted (2006 and 2009), were all ?developed? by the National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development (Nismed), an extension arm of the University of the Philippines (UP), whose publicized goal is ?to raise the level of science and mathematics education in the Philippines at the basic and teacher education levels.? The first edition was ?developed? by a team of 10 writers, two reviewers and an editor. Then, there was a ?revision committee for the first edition,? this time composed of six writers, one editor and two consultants. The second revised edition, published in 2004, was done by a team of three encoders, five artists, five writers, two reviewers, two editors and a team leader. Two reprint editions were published in 2006 and 2009. This book, in short, was made possible because of the collaboration of no less than 40 individuals from the UPNismed, all of whom were given prominent attribution on the second page of the book.

The Department of Education (DepEd) must have been so confident of the book?s integrity that despite the provision in the DepEd?s own Textbook Policy which states: ?Textbooks by subject shall be purchased for the entire student population every five years,? UP-Nismed?s ?Biology? has been in continuous use from 1990 up to the present, a period of 20 years. It is wrong not to regularly update and upgrade textbooks. This is written on Page 163: ?Based on the projections of the United Nations, the world population will increase to about 6.4 billion by the year 2000.? This outdated data, stale to the extent of 10 years, should?ve been corrected during the 2004 revision, or during the reprinting in 2006 and 2009. The world?s population now stands at 6.822 billion. Thus, the difference between the two figures is a staggering 422 million! No more Czechoslovakia We read this on Page 166: ?Gregor Mendel was an Augustinian monk in a monastery in Brnn, Austria (now Brno, Czechoslovakia).? Czechoslovakia no longer exists, having been split into Slovakia and the Czech Republic in 1993. The book contains many factual errors. This we see on Page 328: ?Two endemic orchid species, kapa-kapa (Medinilla magnifica) and waling-waling (Vanda sanderiana) are endangered.? Even unschooled plant gatherers from Mt. Banahaw know that medinillas, by their very form and structure, are not orchids but shrubs. Is it correct to teach, at the basic level, that ?Bone consists of living bone cells found in cavities and are surrounded by a hard, nonliving substance?? Or that ?Xylem cells are usually dead cells with thickened walls while phloem consists of living cells?? How can cells or substances be considered ?dead or nonliving? when they are embedded deep within a living organism, and without which that organism cannot, in fact, live and survive? This is a wrong concept to teach in basic biology (and UP-Nismed?s ?Biology? is basic and elementary, according only 24 pages of exposition to the topic ?Animal Kingdom,? the same topic which consumed 188 pages of Holt?s ?Modern Biology? textbook) because it will only plant doubt and confusion in the minds of the students. Would you consider your hair and nails, made of the structural protein called keratin, or your teeth, composed primarily of dentin, a calcified connective tissue layer, as ?dead or nonliving?? Bones are living tissue, although most of its mass is made up of mineral salts such as calcium and phosphorus. Network of living cells Thus, the more sensible description should be: Bones are a solid network of living cells and protein fibers that are surrounded by deposits of calcium salts. Xylem transports water and dissolved minerals from the roots to the rest of the plant, while phloem carries water containing dissolved substances synthesized by the plant, including water, sugars, amino acids and hormones, throughout the plant. This is clear and concise. The statement ?The spiny anteater of Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea and the duck-billed platypus lay eggs? gives the wrong impression that only the first may be found in Australia. Both mammals have the same geographic range. The platypus is, in fact, the more readily recognizable of the two. This book is supposed to be used in high school, yet it chose to call echidnas ?spiny anteaters,? monotremes ?egg-laying mammals? and marsupials ?pouched mammals.? We must call things by their right names. A species of turtle endemic to southern China, the Cuora trifasciata, is called the tree-striped box turtle. The correct modifier is three-striped or three-banded. Downright silly There are passages in the book that are downright silly: A type of germ therapy would alter the genetic makeup of an individual?s descendants and may have unforeseen effects on the genetic pool; When too much hormone is produced by the pituitary gland during childhood and youth, the individual will be very tall; A willingness to explore the unknown, an observant in nature, and the ability to infer from observations are essential characteristics of a

scientific investigator; The horse can move at 64 to 80 kph; Every boy and girl has a nose, a pair of eyes and cheeks; When a massive asteroid smashed into earth, the collision changed the shape of life on earth; An octopus uses its tentacles to capture prey and bites it with its jaws; Primates have nails on their fingers and toes; When did humans evolve? There can be no question that is more stupid than the last one! Evolution is a very slow process of change occurring over a very long period of time. In the drawing of the parts of a flower, the outer ring of green, leaflike parts is labeled ?sap? and not ?sepal.? DNA is defined as ?deoxyibonucleic acid? while acetylcholine is written as ?acetycholine.? It seems inconceivable that we should still see errors of this kind?the result of wanton carelessness?remain undetected and uncorrected in this book, 20 years after it was conceived. The real tragedy is not that the book has been overstaying or that it contains many errors but that two windows of opportunity had, in fact, been opened to the possibility of this book being replaced, after 20 years, by a better one. Those prospects had apparently and sadly been allowed to fritter away. Textbook budget In two advertisements published on Aug. 31 and Sept. 7, 2006, in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the DepEd issued an ?invitation to apply for eligibility and to bid for the printing and delivery of High School Science and Technology I to III textbooks to public secondary schools nationwide.? The approved budget for this contract was P226 million. By means of an ad published on Oct. 19, 2008, in the Inquirer, the DepEd issued another ?invitation to apply for eligibility and to bid for the printing and delivery of textbooks for Science and Technology I to IV, etc., to public high schools nationwide.? The approved budget for this contract was P531 million. According to the Instructional Materials Council Secretariat?s detailed breakdown of budgetary expenses as of April 25, 2008, almost 4 million textbooks to be used in High School Science and Technology II to IV were allocated P243 million, part of the yearly?and humongous?textbook budget. (The estimated expenditure for the DepEd?s textbook procurement program for fiscal year 2007 was P1,145,383,000, while the estimated expenditure for FY 2008 was P1,774,911,000.) For all that, no new textbook in High School Science and Technology from first year to fourth year had been published, printed and delivered. What we see are new reprints of old textbooks, like UP-Nismed?s ?Biology,? which first saw the light in 1990, when the president was still Cory Aquino. For all that, what we have are new reprints of old textbooks, replete with old errors, which practically ensure that the students who use them will not see the light of reason. When did humans evolve? Where did all the money go? Shouldn?t it have been harnessed for the purpose for which it was conceived?the procurement of textbooks that do not miseducate, that do not idiotize, but that teach what are true, good and correct? On Page 165 of ?Integrated Science,? the textbook that was also ?developed? by the UP-Nismed for use of all first year public high school students, is a picture showing prehistoric stone tools. The caption reads: ?Tools used during early times. Are these tools familiar to you? Where are they currently used?? These questions are just as stupid as the one that asks ?When did humans evolve?? How can you ?raise the level of science and mathematics education in the Philippines at the basic and teacher education levels? when you cannot distinguish between right and wrong at the most basic level? A great moral battle The country?s new leader, President Benigno Aquino III, has proposed ?10 ways to fix Philippine basic education.? Ensuring quality textbooks is one of the measures. He said: ?Poor quality textbooks have no place in

our schools. I will not tolerate poor textbook quality in our schools. Textbooks will be judged by three criteria: quality, better quality, and more quality.? He also targeted ?science and math proficiency,? intending to ?rebuild the science and math infrastructure in schools so that we can produce more scientists, engineers, technicians, technologists and teachers in our universities so that this country can be more globally competitive in industry and manufacturing.? Let UP-Nismed?s ?Biology? be the crucible to test the new administration?s resolve to avert the total collapse of basic education in the Philippines. Our textbooks must be purged of all stale data, misinformation, idiocies and inanities, fallacies and errors. This we must do if we are to save our children from the darkness of our own making. A law must be passed which will make the writing and publication of defective textbooks a crime with a corresponding punishment. The proper education of our young is the great moral battle that must be waged by all Filipinos who love their country.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100621-276734/The-blind-leading-theblind

Drowned in mystery and other boo-boos

By Antonio Calipjo Go Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 05:32:00 02/02/2009 Filed Under: Education, Books

MANILA, Philippines?The following are among the more than 500 items of a similar nature that may be found in the just-released public school textbook (copyright 2008) in Reading for Grade 6 titled ?English For You and Me,? written by Elodie A. Cada, published by Book Wise Publishing House Inc., and printed in Bangkok, Thailand: ? The airport is open to passengers only. ? Humans may turn blue when they cry. ? The engine of the tractor is sleeping now. ? Ms. Vera, please entertain this computer. ? Vietnam Nurse Contacts Bird Flu. ? To Heal Earth Yourself, Start with Your Cat. ? She lives in a place that is drowned in mystery. ? I got a butterfly with flower-designed wings. ? The Doa Aurora tree had yellowish-white flowers which were as wide as an open hand, and smelled fragrant as her mother?s perfume. ? Can we take care of the bird at home? Just like in a rehabilitation center!

? These pants didn?t cost much because they are uneven. ? Comfortable means having the comfort. ? The cat?s whiskers make it different from other animals. ? I trust you so much. I even told you not to enter my room. ? Propped: it stuck and supported very well. ? Delicately: done with fragility. ? Propped: sticked. ? They were discussing what will happen if the moon bounced back to the earth. ? Heroes helped in the forming of our nation. Tausugs, Badjaos ? The Tausugs, who live in Jolo, are described as warlike people but most are friendly, peaceful and hospitable. They are completely attired only when they sport weapons around their waists. They believe in black magic, sorcery, voodoo and love potions. The Koran, their Bible, forbids the eating of dead meat. ? The Badjaos are mostly found along the Coast of Jolo, Subuti, Sitangkal, Tawi-Tawi islands in Mindanao. They are regarded as cultured because they are hardworking and peace-loving. ? People are active individuals. Sometimes, even while sleeping, they make actions through dreams. Cartoon characters are taken from dreams of the cartoonists. Dreaming is a mysterious act. Dreams may be a source of income. Some dreams make the world go round, open the realities of life or transmit the problems of people. ? The show?s plot and the characters? acting prowess are spontaneous in giving us a distinct TV program. ? Next week, he?ll be out in the hospital. Bobby felt happy with magical feeling. ? The grass seems to wink at me. The leaves bow down their heads. ? The baby?s existence added to the full essence of their lives? happiness. ? Do you feel like you?re a newborn today? The earth has come of age giving us time to be born. ? He?s or she?s worried about his/her future. He?s or she?s not sure about the meaning of his/her life. Life as a game ? Hold and behold the essence of bright days. Everybody must be ready to live every day. Everybody sees life as a game. ? Still, life is going on. You continue to breathe and sigh. You keep on walking and living. You think and sleep for days. ? Yet life will continue to pour the best. There are people who stare.

? Compose your own prayer, patterned after the flow of your life. ? Oh God, guide me to take risks in order to live by your example. ? The students busied themselves drinking thirstily. ? Copy the sentences that denote the events happened in the story. ? Their neighbors muttered out loud how lucky their parents were. Chief of the rafts ? A ferryman worked hard as the transport chief of the rafts. ? My grandfather is tall for a Korean and my mother got her almost perfect stature from him. ? The people observed keenly the pulsating chest of the animal hiding in the bushes. ? There are animals that sacrifice their lives for people, bring peace to the world or create color and harmony to humankind. You can hear animals talk like, ?Don?t get our furs, please!? People cried out loud to stop hurting the animals. ? Execute a debate regarding ?Should people use animal skins?? ? Cathy is the richest among the whole sixth grade?she?s been saving since she?s three. ? My folks are believed to be the genius of the century. Their peculiarity made them the most popular people on earth. ? They voted our Math teacher as the most desirable. ? The authorities were intimately bonded with the constituents because of the humanitarian project. ? Conscience (sense of right and wrong, sense of belongingness, being troubled). Warning to security ? The coming plague of locusts was a warning to people?s security. ? He lifted his soul because of loneliness. ? Choose a partner as well as the kind of music you feel comfortable with to move in rhythm with, and presto! you are now dancing. Dancing in groups is a kind of bonding among the dancers. ? If you were to assess your family?s assets, how much do you think would your worth be? ? Did you explain the conflict in a very understandable way? Did you write in the first person using point of view using the pronouns I and We? ? At my age, swooning to Martin Nievera is far from my age level. ? A stain-smooth piece of driftwood.

? The janitress tried to clean the spume of the water underneath the tree. ? There are times that there are invisible elements in the air. Atmosphere in poem ? Put a check before the sentence with details that tell the atmosphere in the poem is truly very silent. ? Invisible like butterflies. ? What does ?The gentle drop of rain on the ground? mean? Explain. ? Give importance of a person?s right to choose one?s profession. ? Create an atmosphere of family solidarity to the readers. ? ?He?s not here!? Miss Racelis told at them. She told them to go out the room. ? He should be given total attention from everybody to make him feel important. ? What use is medicine when it?s but for the rich ? sell, sell, sell. What is the use of discoveries if one engorges in its success ? full of greed and the kind? ? The agreement to cease the war was followed. ? Media people are afraid that information may be churned by the leftists. ? How does light come at dawn? Do we appreciate the coming of the dawn? Why? ? The world crumbles when poverty and hunger are felt by the people. Child for once ? ?Join other children. You?ll only be a child for once.? At the end, he realized the joy of playing with his classmates. ? They submitted the partial results of the survey in the community. They sent the partial result and the rest will follow. ? Using the Venn diagram, compare the character traits of Rolly with other children. ? ?Abracadabra, sssh! Boom! Make some magic for me! Abracadabra, sssh! Boom!? Bobby shouted. He ran to his uncle. ?Looked here, Uncle,? he said. His uncle looked like an invisible man. ? Some patients wiggle their heads to signal that they feel something. ? ?Will you work abroad, Kuya?? asked Henry with tears suddenly swelling in his eyes. ?Where are you going? Why did I feel lonely at once, Kuya?? Henry sat with his hands on his jaws. ? Mr. Reyes carried his suitcase together with his son who was holding onto his neck tightly. ? The turtles squirm independently.

? ?Okay, you want always to be alone; that?s bad. Learn to talk to us. You?re like a mute person!? ? Even the birds laughed at him!

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090202-186921/Drowned-in-mysteryand-other-boo-boos

New DepEd textbook violates one-China policy

JUNE 1, 2008

By YVONNE CHUA and LUZ RIMBAN

WHEN public high school sophomores get the new Social Studies textbook next week, they will be holding in their hands what could be a source of a diplomatic irritant:The book mentions Taiwan as a country separate from the Peoples Republic of China, in violation of the oneChina policy the Philippine government upholds. The error apparently went unnoticed by its authors17 professors from the University of the Philippines, some of them with Ph.Dsand the Department of Education, a government entity supposedly conscious of the one-China policy.

But the error has already caused a stir.In late April, Chinese customs authorities seized one shipment of about 400,000 copies of the textbook, which were printed in China, and threatened to destroy them unless the error was corrected. The book in question is the 492-page Araling Panlipunan II textbook Asya: Pag-usbong ng Kabihasnan (Asia: Birth of Civilization), produced by the Vibal Publishing House and printed by the Ningbo Binbin Stationery Company based in Ningbo in Zhejiang province, China. Ironically, it is supposed to replace an earlier error-filled edition entitled Asya: Noon, Ngayon at sa Hinaharap also published by Vibal,a 316-page book containing 430 factual and grammatical mistakes that had been in use since 1997, and pulled out after the errors were detected in 2004. Perennial problem Social Studies textbooks are prone to errors because they involve too many details, too many facts, said Socorro Pilor, executive director of the DepEds Instructional Materials Council Secretariat (IMCS). Besides, the DepEd placed a high degree of confidence in the authors who belong to the UP Manilas Department of Social Sciences and UP Dilimans History Department. Since the textbook also passed the scrutiny of the UP Asian Center, the IMCS expected Asya: Pag-usbong ng Kabihasnan to be error-free. The DepEds textbook procurement program employs a complex mechanism that includes a four-level evaluation process involving master teachers, subject area experts, curriculum specialists, language experts, and representatives from universities

and professional associations from both public and private sectors.Additional mechanisms have been instituted, and academics from the best schools such as UP and the Ateneo, and the National Historical Institute consulted. On the distribution side, civil society organizations and parent-teacher groups are involved to make sure the books reach the schools and students on time. Errors in public school textbooks have been a bane of the educational system.But holding people and groups accountable is something the DepEd has been hard put to do. In many instances, authors, publishing houses and printers have escaped responsibility for such problems. The Philippine government adopted the one-China policy in 1975 when it established diplomatic relations with Beijing and severed ties with Taipei.Taiwan only maintains an economic and cultural affairs office in Manila. Chinese officials are particularly sensitive to deviations from the one-China policy.In fact, even if the textbook Asya: Pag-usbong ng Kabihasnan is written in Filipino, Chinese customs authorities spotted the errors. Last April 25, DepEd Undersecretary Teodoro Sangil sent a certification to Chinese authorities absolving Ningbo Binbin of any responsibility in the two-China fiasco found in Asya: Pag-usbong ng Kabihasnan. Ningbo Binbin has no control or participation whatsoever in the preparation of the textbook and teachers manual as its contractual obligation is limited to printing, binding, and delivery of the textbooks to the Department of Education in the Philippines, wrote Sangil. He further explained: Asya: Pag-usbong ng Kabihasnan is a Social Studies textbook that is apolitical in nature (and) does not make any opinion on the political-sovereignty issue between the Peoples Republic of China and Taiwan as the Philippines recognizes the one-China policy and that is the Peoples Republic of China. Aside from this defense coming from Sangil, the authors had another argument for including Taiwan as a country.They said students would be left wondering about Taiwan if it were omitted from the list, since there is a sizable community of Filipino workers there. Last Saturday, the shipment was released by Chinese customs officials after Ningbo Binbin plastered a sticker of the Great Wall and Asian temples to correct the books original cover: a map identifying Taiwan as a country in East Asia. Inside, though, the errors remain. They are found on pages 90, 92, 94 and 99, which are lists of countries in Asia, their corresponding land areas, capitals, population and per capita incomes. The covers of only one-third of the 1.4 million copies of this textbook and accompanying teachers manual worth close to P150 million have been corrected. Two big shipments, with uncorrected covers, had arrived earlier and are being distributed to high schools in the 26 SRA (social reform agenda) provinces, the poorest and most underserved in the country. So far, Pilor said, there is no order to correct the errors, including the cover, of the first two shipments.

Taking the fall

This isnt the first time the DepEd is taking the fall for erroneous textbooks.Last year, the IMCS published a booklet of corrections on 150 errors found in seven new titles used in Grades 1 to 5 of Social Studies or HeKaSi (Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika). The mistakes were detected by Antonio Calipjo Go, director of the Marian School, who had also spotted the blunders in Asya: Noon, Ngayon at Sa Hinaharap in 2004. The books were in Filipino and errors were grammatical as well as factual. The suppliers of the HeKaSi 1 to 5 textbooks were Vibal, Watana Phanit, Daewoo International Corp. The DepEd shouldered the cost of printing the 70,000 copies of the corrections booklet sent to public school teachers all over the country. Ningbo Binbins contract for Asya: Pag-usbong ng Kabihasnan is a supply and delivery contract. The company chose from a set of titles, paid royalties to Vibal Publishing, and took responsibility for the contents of the book. But rather than make the company accountable for the mistake, DepEd officials absolved it of blame for the two-China slip. Asya: Pag-usbong ng Kabihasnan and two other Social Studies textbooks are in fact two years late and the bidding fraught with controversy. The bidding started in 2005, when the DepEd sought suppliers for HeKaSi 1 to 6 and Araling Panlipunan I to IV. The contracts were funded from loans from the World Banks National Program Support for Basic Education and the Asian Development Banks Secondary Education Development and Improvement Project. All bidders for HeKaSi 6 and Araling Panlipunan I to IV, however, failed the content evaluation on the first try. On the second try, five suppliers took part in the bidding that started in December 2006: Ningbo Binbin of China, Alkem Co. of Singapore, and local publishers Anvil Publishing, Rex Bookstore and JTW Consortium which is part of Vibal. The bids were opened on Dec. 27, and a decision was supposed to have been arrived at in April 2007.But a complaint lodged by Alkem hinting of manipulation by content evaluators forced the DepEd to hold the awarding of the contracts. Alkem, which submitted the lowest bid for all the titles, questioned the failing mark it got for the design of its HeKaSi 6 teachers manual. The company submitted the same book in the 2005 bidding and passed the design evaluation. Last October, the DepEd eventually awarded Alkem the P64.7 million HeKaSi 6 constract after the evaluators discovered a miscomputation when they were recalled to review the manual.

Bribery allegations
Also, shortly after the bids were opened, a series of text messages posted in the DepEd internal website and sent to several DepEd officials alleged that the IMCS, which coordinates the content evaluation, and its external evaluators had been bribed. Screen shots of the text messages circulating as part of a white paper within the DepEd show a certain IMCS official demanding and accepting payoffs at various stages of the four-level evaluation process.The IMCS official purportedly asked for P30,000 per title to pass the evaluation and P300,000 per title to ensure that the bidder would clinch the contract. The bribe was referred to as anda, which is street lingo for grease money. The official involved denied ever meeting with suppliers. But she admitted showing up at a restaurant in Pasig City sometime in December 2006 on the invitation of a former DepEd employee now working for one of the textbook suppliers. She said she thought she was being set up for a blind date.The date turned out to be one of the bidders who offered her money to make sure the titles would pass. The IMCS official said she was shocked and refused outright. In a memo dated June 13, 2007, Pilor asked the DepEd legal division to investigate the text messages but she has received no formal response.

The issue has reached the civil society organization G-Watch (Government Watch) of the Ateneo School of Government, which monitors government procurements. G-Watch said it will ask the DepEd legal department for an update on the bribery reports. Civil society organizations have been helping the DepEd, but their participation is limited to the distribution of textbooks. Redempto Parafina of the Ateneo School of Government, which runs G-Watch, has suggested letting CSOs have a hand in the evaluation of textbook content. G-Watch also suggests a mechanism where the DepEd could blacklist evaluators who approve error-filled textbooks and suppliers of these titles.

In the meantime, NGOs helping the DepEd distribute erroneous textbooks are faced with a dilemma.Parafina said: Are we helping spread around the poison that are bad textbooks?

Richard Flores, principal of the Aklan National High School for Arts and Trade in Kalibo, Aklan, and Marilyn Mabulay, principal of the Aguinaldo Repiedad Integrated School in Banga, also in Aklan, inspect the new textbooks delivered to their schools in early May. Asya: Pag-usbong ng Kabihasnan, whose shipment was being held by China at the time, was not among the books they got. (Photos by Yvonne Chua and Luz Rimban/VERA Files)

Tagged textbooks

- See more at: http://verafiles.org/new-deped-textbook-violates-one-china-policy/#sthash.OgHjWKed.dpuf

Antonio Calipjo Go, "Sick Books Crusader"

Antonio Calipjo Go has belatedly admitted to the public that he neither has written a textbook nor has finished college. Years ago, some reputable educators and journalists asked about his specific expertise, but he always gave an evasive answer. After his overdue admission, he offers the public a sob story as to

the reason for his inability to finish college nearly forty years ago: family poverty and the premature death of his father. Should we shed tears for such a palusot? In his expensive paid advertisements in which he tried to show the allegedly many errors in English, Filipino, Science and Social Studies textbooks used in public and private schools, Calipjo Go wanted us to believe that he had a monopoly of textbook expertise in several learning areas. He angrily rejects the findings of several experts, such as those from the University of Sto. Tomas Department of Science, who have carefully examined and disputed the "errors" he found in textbooks he targeted. Calipjo Go appears to be a publicity-hungry and self-anointed super-expert whose commentaries combinations of shameless self-glorification and the ravings and rantings of a lonely aging man who not outgrown his unhappy youth. Imagine his arrogance in declaring in a piece he wrote for Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI): "I am the only person who actually tried to do something about problem of error-riddled textbooks." are has the the

Calipjo Go likes to imagine himself persecuted by established academic institutions and recognized experts who disagree with his findings. The PDI likes to lionize him especially after he put out several expensive advertisements. Also, the PDI does not apply strict journalistic standards in verifying before publishing his allegations and stories. In his 21 June 2010 commentary at the PDI, Calipjo Go attacked the book, "Biology," developed for secondary school students by the University of the Philippines National Institute of Science and Mathematics Education Development (UP NISMED).

Below is a reproduction of the response of UP NISMED to Go: We read with interest (and not a small amount of frustration) Mr. Antonio Calipjo Gos commentary on Biology, a textbook written by UP NISMED for high school students. He thinks the book is full of idiocies and inanities, fallacies and errors. He has a big axe to grind. Allow us to counter this unwarranted hatchet job. Mr. Go thinks the title of the book is unimaginative. (We think its concise.) But he takes issue with the graphic spiny anteater, preferring the term echidna, which does not evoke any vivid image of the animal. He wants monotremes in place of the descriptive egg-laying mammals. He would rather we used marsupials, instead of the suggestive pouched mammals. The study of biology is at times made unnecessarily difficult by the use of words that sound foreign to learners. As UP NISMED appreciates this difficulty, it has put more value on the use of terms that help clarify concepts and are easily understood by the students. But we learned our lesson. Next time we will use terms that impede imagination. Mr. Go thinks 358 pages are not enough to tackle a very complex subject. He prefers the much longer book by Prentice-Hall which he says has 923 pages. (We wonder whether it is possible to teach all the content written in such a book in a single academic year.) To be sure, Mr. Go knows that DepEd prescribes a limited number of pages per textbook. Yet, despite this limitation, all the learning competencies for Second Year Biology have been covered in the book. Mr. Go thinks that the question, When did humans evolve?, is stupid. In fact, he cannot think of a question more stupid than this. To explain his point, he says that evolution is a very slow process of change occurring over a very long period of t ime. Apparently, Mr. Go wants to restrict the use of When?

to mean At what time? He thinks it is wrong to use When? to mean Over what period? Using his rule, no one would be able to ask: When did the dinosaurs rule the Earth? When did the last Ice Age occur? When were the Himalayas formed? Mr. Go thinks that the caption, Tools used during early times. Are these tools familiar to you? Where are they currently used?, is also stupid. However, he does not explain why. Perhaps he thinks that the writer was expecting the readers to be familiar with the tools or that the tools were being used at present. Just the opposite, the intention is to underscore the readers unfamiliarity with the tools and the fact that they are not used anymore. This is to emphasize the level of technology in olden times, that tools at the time were little more than stones with sharp edges and pointed tips. Mr. Go asks if it is correct to teach, at the basic level, that Bone consists of living cells found in cavities and are surrounded by a hard, nonliving substance.Or, that Xylem cells are usually dead cells with thickened walls while phloem consists of living cells . He asks, How can cells or substances be considered dead or nonliving when they are embedded deep within a living organism, and without which that organism cannot, in fact, live or survive? Apparently, Mr. Gos single criterion for considering a cell as living is the fact that it is embedded within a living organism. This is absolutely wrong. UP NISMEDs definitions for bone and xylem are not incorrect. We request readers who come across commentaries such as this to be wary and critical. Do your own research and find out if what is being claimed as erroneous truly is erroneous, or merely the misinterpretation of someone who may not be competent in the field that he or she is criticizing. The greater moral battle is that which must be waged against those who masquerade as experts and peddle misinformation in the guise of professing love for country. Truly, a little learning is a dangerous thing.

http://discoverthegift.blogspot.com/2010/07/arrogance-of-little-learning.html

Erroneous School Textbooks

My first-year high school son and I have been discussing about Philippine geography one afternoon, when our topic led into his narration of towns and cities under the National Capital Region (NCR). He enumerated 16 towns and cities, but missed Erap's town of San Juan. He's adamant that there is no San Juan City in Metro Manila, as he referred on their history book below.

I cannot believe that such a famous town will be missed by the book's 2 authors, proofreaders, and the book's publishing team. But when my son showed me the book's page no. 10 with the list of NCR towns and cities, I was disappointed with the absence of San Juan City on the list.

The oldest town or city in NCR, San Juan was the first site of the first battle of Katipunan. It was also the town of the most Philippine presidents, as four of them were official residents of San Juan when they assumed office. They were the Macapagals, Diosdado Sr. (19611965) and his daughter Gloria (2001 2010); Ferdinand Marcos (19651986); and Joseph Estrada (19982001), who also served as mayor when San Juan was still a municipality.

With the strategic location of the city of San Juan, plus its place on the nation's history, it is very hard to believe that the above book's authors have missed it. Both authors came from a reputable university, and one of them even has a masteral degree. This glaring mistake confirms the various complaints about the inaccuracy of some textbooks used in our schools.

Our national hero once said that "The youth is our nation's hope". But how will it materialize, when some of the books that they use are not accurate? As they say in IT industry, "garbage in is garbage out". How can we produce future leaders, when their educational foundation is based on wrong facts? Its like we are lying on today's youth. I know that feeling, as I still remember when Gregorio Zaide's Philippine history books featured the primitive and isolated Tasaday tribe, which later turned out to be a hoax.

There should be more stringent laws and penalties to ensure that authors and book publishers will provide accurate books in the market. Education officials must be sanctioned for incompetence on their job, like approving school textbooks with inaccurate information. I sent an email last 18 August 2011 to DepEd and Rex Publishing to report this blog post's finding. What I got is an automated reply and a bounced back email below. (:

http://noelizm.blogspot.com/2011/08/erroneous-school-textbooks.html

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EDUCATION, PHILIPPINES

Is public education in the Philippines a hopeless cause?

by Counterflow 24 June, 2013 7 Comments

Can the Philippine public school system teach its students? Photo from k-12news.com

In his 2012 State of the Nation Address, President Benigno S. Aquino III promised to make education a priority for his administration. This was manifested by increases in the budget for State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and the Department of Education. He also promised to eradicate the perennial shortage of classrooms, chairs, and textbooks that welcome public school students every year. In addition, he has implemented a K-12 program that will bring the education system in line with world standards. Unfortunately, the budget increases that Mr. Aquino boasted of did not prevent the public school system from being overwhelmed yet again at the opening of classes this month. Most importantly, even if all the promises were kept and programs and policies work as intended, they will not solve the biggest problem of Philippine education keeping children in school. For every 100 pupils who enter Grade 1, only 86 will continue till Grade 2. Over the last 30 years, this has been the highest dropout rate (14 per cent) in the basic school cycle. By Grade 4, only 76 will still be in school. By Grade 6, only 67 of the original 100 would still be enrolled and only 65 will finish elementary school. Of the 65 children who graduate from Grade 6, only 58 will move on to high school. And of the 58 who enter high school, only 42 will graduate (source). This means that only 42% of those who start off their basic education would finish high school. Given the state of tertiary education, the proportion of those who would enter college and finish it would even be lower. In addition, given the trend of losing students every year level, the K-12 system might even produce lower completion rates. Once the children are in school (and the assumption of perfectly working programs are removed), they will most likely face overcrowded classrooms, insufficient numbers of erroneous textbooks, overworked teachers, with only hollow boastsfrom DepEd to ease their woes. Even these numbers, as bad as they are, might even be worse off in reality. This manual shows how classroom shortages are computed, but it is unsure if they use satisfactory student to classroom ratios as defined by international standards. This concern is

amplified by the fact that most public schools in Metro Manila have half-day shifts to maximize the use of classrooms. It is also unsure if teacher shortages are filled with any licensed teacher willing to teach in public schools, without regard to the proportions needed for teachers of particular subjects. These problems are caused, and exacerbated by, the economic situation of the country. The dropout rate will continue to be high so long as there are parents who cannot afford to send their children to school. A poor tax base and inefficient collection mechanism for taxes deprive the government of revenue that could have been spent on education, and corruption means that what students do get from meager funds are substandard. Teachers prefer to work as domestic helpers abroad because of low and often delayed salaries, and the workload prevents them from continuing their own education to further improve their skills. And the list would go on. Instead of being overwhelmed by these issues and wringing their hands at the herculean task ahead of them, education officials would do well to break these problems to manageable parts and work on them bit by bit. For the short term, there are some problems that can be remedied in the short-term, assuming the national government is willing to become politically incorrect in some of the solutions that they would adopt. These are:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Erroneous textbooks Classroom shortage Teacher shortage Textbook shortage Dropout rate

The proposed stopgap measures are (in order of political incorrectness):

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Conscripting UP students and professors to check for errors in textbooks Expansion of alternative education programs Conscripting parents and older students to build their own classrooms Vouchers to allow some students to enroll in private schools Reducing the number of SUCs and channeling these funds to basic education

None of these proposals will work indefinitely, nor would they solve all these problems completely. However, they would allow for an immediate remedy that can benefit a large number of students in a shorter period of time than waiting for the Philippine economy to become able to absorb the costs of educating its citizens. The proposal also sidesteps the debate on the extent of the right to access to education to focus on the most pragmatic aspect of the discussion on Philippine education. It does not preclude the possibility of the debate being resolved towards universal education for all up to whatever level is determined by the government in the future, nor these programs becoming obsolete if the government becomes able and willing to pump further money into education. Finally, the proposals do not advocate nor support the government shirking its duties and responsibilities as mandated by the 1987 Constitution in reference to basic education.

All these proposals are premised on the principle that the most important step to quality education in general would be to provide complete quality basic education to as many children as possible, as soon as possible. Conscripting UP students and professors. The University of the Philippines has consistently been rated as the best university in the country by different organizations, both local and abroad. It has the most competitive entrance examination in the country, which means only the best and brightest students are able to enter the university. It is also funded by the government, making these students government scholars. To harness their intelligence and talent, the Department of Education can conscript these students, through the National Service Training Program or NSTP, to check all public school textbooks currently in use for errors and inaccuracies. They can also be used to screen drafts of textbooks pending approval. Each student may take note of a possible error and suggest a correction, which would be validated by a UP professor teaching in the same field. This method will allow the government to save money by not having to hire an outside expert and assure accuracy through crowdsourcing. It also avoids corruption since it is difficult to bribe a large number of students. Making the whole process public and transparent would also allow all interested parties, even those outside UP, to monitor which errors have been noted. By picking a professor at random and compelling him or her to publish rebuttals to all errors not validated, the process of validation is also made transparent, making it more difficult to protect a publisher with a history of errors. Finally, should a publisher be proven to have a large number of errors in its publications, its can be banned from further bidding for public school textbooks. Its name can also be announced in the mass media for a shame campaign that would also deter private schools from buying textbooks from them. Any author proven to be incompetent to write books on his or her chosen field should also be blacklisted, and if possible, any degrees or certifications he or she used to bolster his or her credentials to write that textbook be revoked. This, aside from criminal and administrative charges that can be levied against any official who certified these textbooks as fit for use in public schools. Expanding alternative learning programs. Currently, DepEd has the Alternative Learning System which allows students to catch up on their education while retaining the focus on formal education. The program allows students who have been held back to return to formal school more quickly, minimizing the economic costs of education for these people. This is a program that should be expanded and continued. To increase the attractiveness of this program, the Department of Education should start on ensuring that its products are able to take college entrance examinations without fuss, or to return to the formal system of basic education anywhere. Since this program is self-selecting, all of its students can be presumed to be motivated and require less supervision in the accomplishment of the necessary coursework. This in turn means that it can take advantage of volunteerism on the part of university students and/or professionals in taking up part-time teaching jobs that will allow DepEd to release full-time teachers for service in public schools.

Conscripting parents and older students. Habitat for Humanity has shown that ordinary people can be trusted to build their own homes in a community project. This concept can be tapped

If they can build houses, why not classrooms? Photo taken from themindanaocurrent.blogspot.com

to build classrooms as well. The Department of Public Works and Highways can provide plans and templates to all public schools, who can then mobilize the local community parents of students, older students, volunteers, churches, and businesses to provide funds for materials and manpower for construction. Their efforts can be supervised by the local governments engineering office to ensure that the construction remains robust and compliant with safety codes. This gives the local community more investment in the local school, which would hopefully translate to vigilance in assuring the school continues to provide quality education to the people of the community. This can be accompanied by a pledge of the government that all school structures would be assured of maintenance funds through automatic appropriation. Vouchers. In public schools, there are students from families that can be considered borderline not really poor, but not really rich. These are people who cannot afford the current costs of private schools without assistance, but are still better off financially than many of the students in public schools. The government can issue vouchers to these parents upon request, to enable them to move their children to private schools and ease the congestion in public schools. These private schools would be compelled to accept these vouchers, with parents making up for the difference in costs. There is such a program currently in place, but it seems to be limited in scope. The voucher system should be expanded and made available to everyone who requests them, except perhaps for the A and B classes, and all private schools required to take them. There might be concerns about subsidizing the part of public school students who are better off financially, but its the only segment of the current population of public schools that can actually afford to make up for the difference between the amount in the voucher and the actual amount in tuition. Subsidizing these children at a flat rate is definitely cheaper than building more classrooms and hiring more teachers just to accommodate them in public schools.

Reducing the number of SUCs. This will be the most controversial proposal in this post. All SUCs must be reevaluated and ranked according to their success. Success can be determined from the performance of alumni and students, the fulfillment of their mandate, the quality of education offered in these schools, and ranking by reputable third-party organizations. The idea is that schools that perform poorly would be closed, privatized, or their subsidies reduced and government money channeled instead to basic education. This surely would spark outraged reactions from those who believe university education should be free, and those who may not necessarily believe so, but still agree with the idea of increased government funding for tertiary education. The reason for this proposal is a simple numbers game. Less than half of those who enter Grade 1 finish 4th year high school. The numbers are not yet in for the new K-12 system of course, but there is no reason to believe that it will significantly impact a lot of students when most children drop out between Grades 1 and 2. Keeping them in school requires not just investments in infrastructure, but also assistance to ensure they are fed, shod, and supplied with paper and pens to facilitate their learning. This will lessen the tendency of their parents to see education as a burden, and indeed give incentives to keep them in school since such assistance would significantly reduce their food expenses. The question then is, where can the money be sourced? Loans or grants from overseas are unsustainable, and there is simply nothing to be had from the treasury. Anyone who believes all representatives and senators of the Philippines would willingly reduce or forego their pork barrels for this venture needs to be checked into rehab for drug abuse. Other expenditures are sorely needed as well, and corruption prevents more money from being collected from taxes or customs. All these can be corrected, but not immediately. Thus, the government is reduced to working with funds already allocated for education. This however would undoubtedly impact those who wish to pursue higher education but financially unable to do so. Nevertheless, in a game of numbers, they must give way. Only 42% of children who enter Grade 1 finish high school. The number of those who enter and finish college from that pool is smaller still, and less than half of those are enrolled in public universities, according to Wikipedia. Since it is cheaper to provide a student with basic education than college education, every peso invested in basic education benefits more people than those invested in tertiary education. Conclusion. Although unsatisfactory, these proposals seem to be the best way to bridge the gap between the ideals and reality of education. As people continue to debate on how much the government should invest and the government scrounges for available money to invest, children are continued doomed to a life of illiteracy and its attendant social and economic costs, furthering the cycle of poverty.

Counterflow is a blog on security, politics, history, and culture. It is maintained by an editor of The Observers.

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7 comments for Is public education in the Philippines a hopeless cause?

1.

The Mouse
3 July, 2013 at 4:37 am

The solution I have in mind: bring in the Science High School method style to regular public education. A lot of science high schools are either at par or even better than the best private schools. Also, Open teaching position to qualified foreign teachers.
Reply

counterflow
3 July, 2013 at 9:54 am

From my own experience, a Science High School-style method doesnt really work if the teachers arent qualified to begin with. In addition, it might not be interesting or even practical for all students. And while drafting foreign teachers is a good idea, I dont think anyone would be interested given the paltry compensation for public school teachers.
Reply

The Mouse
20 July, 2013 at 9:12 am

My idea is actually opening up foreign teachers to teach future teachers. While impractical at elementary and high school level. It can be concentrated on those taking up BS Education.
Reply

2.

manilamac
25 June, 2013 at 3:58 am

Methinks there is no single policy solution to our education problems and that one of the things that keeps us mired in the status quo is that we keep acting likeif we can just come up w/ the right one-size-fits-all policywe can fix the whole mess at one go. Whats called for, IMHO, is a buffet of programs that various parts of the nation can avail of in part or in whole: some less-than-stellar SUCs probably should see their support reduced (or suspended), for instance, but others may provide very essential services in their particular locations despite results that dont totally meet expectations; lack of classrooms no doubt has a number of alternative solutions that fitwell or poorlythe needs of one or another location. That said, some thingslike correction of text books (where some errors have been pointed out over & over for years); textbook shortage (how are textbook publishers expected to make money when so many students are forced to Xerox their texts?); &care absolutely spot on. But I mean that things like alternative education programs may need to vary widely from place to place, e.g., it may be difficult to recruit necessary

teachers to work in certain localsin one location, more online courses may be whats called for, while in others perhaps teachers should be offered hardship pay. I agree w/ Joe that actually attending school is important to social developmentand that correctly accessed & collected property tax (proceeds earmarked for education) would be a step in the right direction, especially if used to bring depressed school districts in lowincome locals up to snuff. That brings us to a hobbyhorse of my own: that the proliferation of private schools ultimately leads to the demise of public educationbut Ill leave that for later comment.
Reply

3.

Joe America
24 June, 2013 at 10:48 am

Some excellent suggestions. It has always disturbed me that the public schools here charge exam fees and other assessments. Human rights guidelines call for education to be completely free. The poor are subsidizing the rich who have the power to sneak out of paying their proper taxes. I know a guy who works in the tax area, and assessed taxes are commonly way below true value. In the U.S.,taxes are based on the assessors read-out of market value of the residence, and that pays for schools. It is downright criminal that the poor have to pay to get an education. Ive also argued in a prior blog that the schools (high schools in the beginning) should go to internet-resourced education (tablets instead of text books and classrooms) to receive and do lessons and take exams. Smart and Globe are everywhere for the internet connection. No paper. Work at home or elsewhere. High paid call center teacher core writing lessons and monitoring the low-cost staff providing live help to students. Free the classrooms for half-day sessions and coaching. Like, skip ahead of other nations where kids are still lugging books around. The conscription idea is excellent, too.
Reply

counterflow

24 June, 2013 at 11:16 am

Its not just exam fees. Teachers also peddle all sorts of stuff. Some of the more crass ones make students do projects everyday which have no relation to the subject, and compel students to buy the materials from them. Im not so sure about home-based education. I still prefer formal schooling because it teaches social interaction to children. Even now, Ive noticed a degradation of social skills among younger people brought about by obsession with virtual rather than actual interaction. The idea of harnessing the Internet is good though, and it should be integrated with formal schooling.
Reply

Joe America
24 June, 2013 at 11:56 am

Yes, I agree that in-school sessions are an important aspect of education, but would work toward a half and half solution that would free up the classrooms for rotation of morning and afternoon classes, to relieve the burden on building new buildings and hiring on-site teachers locally. Somehow the burdens on facilities and teachers have to be relieved to better deal with educational content and quality over quantity. The internet is there now. The tablets are cheap. The paper can go away. It is the future, and it is just a question of how quickly the Philippines moves toward it.
Reply

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