SAN ANTONIO, Zambales, Philippines — An association of Catholic schools in this province apologized on Saturday for issuing a learning material containing sexually suggestive names or phrases, which the group said was the handiwork of just one teacher.
The learning module, one meant for a philosophy subject to be taught to senior high school students under the distance learning program of the Department of Education (DepEd), stirred outrage on social media early this week because of the double entendres. One netizen pointed out on Facebook that it made use of “dirty names” in Filipino.
The DepEd on Friday disowned the module, with Education Secretary Leonor Briones saying the agency would take action against the concerned parties.
Meant to be ‘localized’
“It’s not [from] DepEd, it’s material produced by a review center for teachers for particular subjects,” Briones said at a Senate hearing on the proposed DepEd budget for 2021.
She noted that the module featured a “particular subject for grown-ups. But that is not excused at all.”
In a text message on Saturday, Fr. Raymann Catindig, superintendent of the Association of Catholic Schools in the Diocese of the provincial capital of Iba, said the module had been withdrawn for revision and that a new one was being prepared for distribution on Tuesday next week.
Catindig explained that the diocese provided the drafts of the learning module, which was supposed to be “localized” by the schools under its jurisdiction.
“We trusted the school coordinator and principal to do the proofreading,” he said.
The sexually suggestive version of the module was traced to a teacher in Palauig town, according to an official in the municipality.
In a statement, the Catholic school association expressed regret, vowing to investigate the matter, “rectify the unintended error and prevent similar oversights from happening again.”
—Reports from Joanna Rose Aglibot and Krissy Aguilar