DepEd probes learning module with dirty names

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) is investigating the use by an unnamed private school in Zambales of lewd terms in its learning modules, which went viral online.

“We would like to clarify that a certain viral photo of a module page with provocative terms was not created by the Department of Education,” DepEd said in a statement, without naming the school or the individual that produced the module.

The obscene terms were made to appear as names of persons in one of the questions in the learning module. The smutty terms include Pining Garcia, Malou Wang, Abdul Salsalani and Tina Moran.

“Learning resources in public schools have undergone quality assurance through our education specialists and our modules have yet to be utilized formally since public schools will only open on Oct. 5,” DepEd added.

DepEd also said it would exhaust legal remedies to ensure that school learning materials, both in public and private schools, foster quality education and the best interest of children.

“With Republic Act 11476 or the GMRC and Values Education Act enacted, we will continuously promote good manners and right conduct among basic education institutions to provide a good example to our learners,” it added.

The Facebook user who posted the image said it came from a learning module used by the private school attended by his 16-year-old sister.

In a subsequent post, he expressed gratitude to DepEd officials, teachers and parents who reached out to him to acknowledge his help and get more information.

“I believe that education must be taken seriously during this pandemic. I understand that creativity is one of the best methods to encourage the students to learn but it’s not the proper place for being ‘too creative’ with maliciousness,” he wrote.

“Don’t blame it on the student, the school nor the people involved in making these modules. Everybody deserves a chance to improve themselves. I hope that we’ve learned from this mistake and that it won’t happen again in the future,” he added.

At a Senate hearing on the DepEd’s budget on Friday, Education Secretary Leonor Briones also disowned the learning material and vowed to take action on the matter.