A Filipino mother made an appeal to stop “module shaming” in a post which made rounds on Facebook amid the string of reports about error-filled learning materials.
The Department of Education recently came under fire after concerned students, teachers and parents found glaring errors in some of the modules used for the distance learning approach, just days after classes resumed last October 5.
Amid the backlash, Facebook user Christine Kempis-Sajonia, who described herself as a “mother of a modular learner,” hoped that parents would move past merely posting it online, therefore embarrassing the teachers who developed it.
“So if you’re done telling the world the mistakes on your child’s module, go make a note and address it to the teacher so it can be rectified accordingly by the proper agency. More than shaming, your cooperation would be more than helpful. It takes a village to raise a child. And that includes education,” Sajonia said on October 9.
She also stressed that the blended or distance learning is a new system that even teachers and other educators are still making adjustments.
Sajonia hoped that parents would be more considerate and appreciate the efforts of the teachers.
“Hindi ikakatalino ng anak niyo yang module shaming. This modular learning is new to everyone so perhaps allowance for mistakes wouldn’t hurt. Don’t let that grammatical error or incorrect spelling take up too much of your child’s learning. Appreciate the efforts, and by all means, chip in, APTLY,” she said.
The mother also concluded that she is “thankful to all the teachers silently battling insults.”
Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio previously admitted that not all self-learning modules underwent “quality assurance” review, particularly those produced by private institutions.
“Hindi pa rin namin completely naba-validate kung ‘yung mga pages ng mga self-learning modules na ‘yan ay gawa namin sa DepEd o nakita sa private sector counterpart… Wala po kaming kaalam-alam doon,” he said.
DepEd also launched a “bayanihan” campaign, asking the public to report blunders they found in the learning materials.
‘Proper handling of concerns in the future’
In an interview with Interaksyon, Sajonia explained that she observed some individuals are resorting to publicizing the mistakes in the modules.
“What prompted me to post that was my observation from some people posting these modular errors in public. I have cousins and friends who are teachers and I saw how hard they tried to deliver what is asked of them despite the limited amount of time and resources they have,” she said.
Sajonia also noted that she has personally seen the struggles of teachers given that her mother was a retired principal.
“Also, my mother was a retired principal and I have personally seen the amount of sacrifices our teachers have to go through,” she said.
The concerned mother emphasized that she doesn’t condone the lapses of DepEd and she only sought to find a better way to handle questionable modules.
“The point of my post was for proper handling if these errors. I am in no way condoning the lapses of DepEd because I am not the position to do that,” she said.
Sajonia’s post earned more than 1,100 shares on the platform. One Facebook user even made a screenshot of it and posted it on her account.
The caption was: “Sorry po.” She also added a crying emoji.
This post, meanwhile, made rounds more than 13,000 times and gathered 4,600 reactions wherein majority were hearts and likes.
The comments section were filled with messages of gratitude and empathy to the teachers.
Others, meanwhile, noted that the root cause of the problem is DepEd.