SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of Education to assess all learning materials produced by schools divisions.

The review should identify and correct erroneous materials before they are distributed, Gatchalian said in a statement released on Sunday.

He made the call following the recall by DepEd of self-learning modules that discriminated against Igorots.

“The discriminatory language describing Igorots in some learning materials shows the urgent need for the DepEd to revamp its quality assurance process to ensure that it does not tolerate all indications of discrimination,” he said.

The senator stressed that the incident requires the mobilization of all units concerned with learning resource development, including the Curriculum Implementation Division at the division level and the Curriculum Learning and Management Division at the regional level, to ensure thorough vetting of learning materials.

“While the DepEd already recalled the learning materials in question, reports of errors that have mounted since the beginning of the school year exposes weaknesses in the department’s quality assurance process,” Gatchalian said.

He added that the DepEd has found itself in a cycle of printing and distributing erroneous modules that end up drawing criticisms and being recalled.

“Sinasalamin ng ating mga learning materials ang kalidad ng ating edukasyon kaya dapat nating siguruhin ang lahat ng hakbang upang matiyak na ang mga ito ay wasto at may  paggalang sa lahat ng kultura at sektor ng ating lipunan,” the senator said.