INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Booklets and workbooks for “Catch-up Fridays”— a Department of Education (DepEd) program to improve student’s reading comprehension skills — should not be for sale.
Since January, all learners from Kinder to Grade 12 are immersed in the printed text to sharpen their reading comprehension every Friday throughout the school year.
During this once-a-week session, teachers ask students to write essays, book reviews, and analyses.
But DepEd on Friday said they received reports that a number of school personnel are selling and requiring learners to buy booklets or workbooks for the program and other activities.
“The Department reiterates that such acts are strictly prohibited,” the DepEd said in a statement.
“Catch-Up Fridays and other school activities must not involve out-of-pocket costs. Parents and learners are reminded not to accommodate and patronize such unauthorized transactions,” it added.
The agency also said it launched a probe on this.
“Any individual found guilty of such [a] scheme shall face appropriate administrative sanctions,” it said.
Meanwhile, the DepEd encourages the public to report similar incidents to the Office of the Secretary at osec@deped.gov.ph.
The DepEd launched this program in a bid to address the problems of Filipino students when it comes to reading, as revealed by international assessments.
According to a World Bank (WB) report, nine out of 10 or 91 percent of Filipino children were still struggling to read simple texts by age 10 or the late primary age.
This made the Philippines one of the countries with the highest rates of “learning poverty” in the East Asia and Pacific region and among lower-middle-income economies, the WB said in its assessment dated June 2022.