Initiative vs error-riddled textbooks launched

MANILA, Philippines - Catholic schools in Metro Manila are drawing up a set of criteria for textbook evaluation to prevent the use of defective reading materials in learning institutions.

The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines-National Capital Region (CEAP-NCR) said the move would ensure that defective books do not circulate in private schools.

Some 20 administrators of CEAP-NCR schools attended last Wednesday the Academic Leaders Encounter at Claret School in Quezon City to start phasing out defective books in CEAP-member schools.

Textbook crusader Antonio Calipjo-Go, an academic supervisor of Marian School in Sauyo, Quezon City, a CEAP-NCR member, was the resource speaker.

Go had earlier exposed several history, English, and math books containing hundreds of grammatical, conceptual, and factual errors used in private and public schools.

Monsignor Gerardo Santos, CEAP president, said the initiative would push CEAP-member schools to set up textbook committees in their respective institutions.

The committees, Santos said, would be tasked to review the contents of textbooks being used in their schools.

“It is advisable that CEAP schools should have a textbook committee which is a structure within the academic program of the school,” Santos said.

“If you have a textbook committee, you (should) have a textbook criteria that the committee uses to criticize or evaluate textbooks,” he said.

He added that it was the task of CEAP-NCR to come up with the textbook review criteria that will be distributed to the textbook committees of CEAP schools.

Santos stressed that CEAP is studying the possibility of adopting Go’s criteria in choosing school textbooks.

He said that if they deem it a worthy advocacy, CEAP could set up a textbook accreditation process in private schools in the country.

While CEAP-NCR only has 140 member-schools, the organization has 1,252 members nationwide. — Rainier Allan Ronda