MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education is looking into reported “sagot-for-sale,” a scheme where parents supposedly pay for someone else to answer their children’s learning module as part of distance learning for students during the pandemic.
Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said in a Laging Handa briefing that an investigation is underway to validate the reports. The department has stressed from the start of school year that such scheme, if proven to have proliferated, will not be tolerated.
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“So we really do not allow this and if proven that our fellow teachers sell and they themselves write the answers for their students is hard to imagine,” he said in Filipino.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chair of the committee on basic education, bared the alleged scheme in a committee hearing that discussed schooling during the health crisis on Wednesday. Sen. Nancy Binay, quoted in a Manila Bulletin report, also cited reports where parents answer the modules for their children.
The Philippines has enforced distance learning for the school year as children remained locked down in their homes, part of government efforts to contain the coronavirus. Part of this modality is the use of printed modules.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said the government is exerting all efforts in its national vaccination program “to ensure the safety of students before the resumption of the face-to-face learning.” — Kristine Joy Patag