ACT to COA, Congress: Probe DepEd for ‘insufficient’ learning materials

Photo courtesy of ACT

MANILA, Philippines – The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) on Wednesday called on the Commission on Audit (COA) and Congress to investigate the Department of Education (DepEd) after receiving complaints of alleged insufficient armchairs and learning materials.

“We received reports on armchair shortage; that now monobloc chairs without armrests are what are being delivered in schools, and the supply is still not enough. In a school in La Union, teachers fight over monobloc chairs to secure enough supply for their classes,” said ACT Chairperson Vladimer Quetua in a statement.

ACT said it also received reports about  “grave deficiency in available learning materials,” saying that there are textbooks kept in storage that were damaged by floods and by termites.

Aside from the alleged shortage of physical resources, Quetua added that there is also inconsistency in the distribution of learning materials and that it is unclear if teachers should be using these textbooks or modules.

Photo courtesy of ACT

“Problematiko ito dahil magkaiba ang laman ng textbook at modules. Ang textbook ay nakabatay sa orihinal na kurikulum ng K-12 samantalang ang modules ay nakabatay sa Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCs) na ipinatupad sa distance learning. Alin ba talaga ang pag-aaralan ng mga bata? Ano ang ituturo ng mga guro?” said Quetua.

(This is problematic because what are contained in the modules and what is on the textbooks  are different. The textbooks are based on the original K-12 curriculum while the modules are based on MELCs, which was used for distance learning. Which one will students use? What will teachers use in teaching?)

ACT also reported that based on a survey it conducted with 1022 teachers as respondents, 75% said they have insufficient learning materials for their students.

“Somebody has to check DepEd’s grave inefficiency in delivering these important teachers’ and learners’ need. We hope that COA and the Congress can do a probe on this,” Quetua said.

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