SENATOR Risa Hontiveros on Monday said teachers should not be blamed for the errors found in self-learning modules distributed by the Department of Education.

Hontiveros said the glaring mistakes in the modules should be attributed to the seemingly ‘rushed’ opening of classes.

Hontiveros said this resulted in DepEd’s failure to standardize and strictly evaluate learning materials.

“It is highly unfair na sa mga guro isisi itong mga mali sa modules. Nangangahulugan lang ito na hindi pa rin 100% ready ang sistema noong nagbukas ang klase. This is a sign na kinulang sa preparasyon ang mga schools at minadali ang pagbubukas ng klase,” she said.

“May mga kaso pa na sariling sikap na gumawa ng modules ang ilang regions dahil hindi na kinayang maglabas ng standardized learning modules ng DepEd Central Office,” the senator added.

Hontiveros issued the statement after receiving a report from the Teachers Dignity Coalition on distance learning.

She urged the DepEd to form a technical working group of master teachers and experts who will efficiently design, craft, vet, and screen SLMs before these are distributed in schools.

“Ang hinaing ng teachers, bumubuo na sila ng modules, bukod pa sa teaching load nila. Dahil sa sandamakmak na trabaho ay nasasakripisyo ang kalidad hindi lang ng module kundi pati pagtuturo sa mga bata. Kaya dapat may separate team na nakatutuok lang sa paggawa ng modules. ‘Yun lang ang gagawin ng TWG at hindi na bibigyan ng teaching load,” the senator explained.

At the same time, she urged the DepEd to hire more teachers, especially the private school teachers who lost their jobs because of the pandemic.

“We need human resources to fulfill the promise of quality education lalo na ngayong may pandemya. We need proofreaders, we need people who can help improve our learning materials, we need more teachers, and we need learning assistants para sa mga magulang na walang kakayahan gabayan ang kanilang mga anak,” Hontiveros said.

“Hindi dapat masakripisyo ang kalidad ng edukasyon sa gitna ng hamon ng pandemya. Kaya mas dapat nating ibsan ang mga pasanin ng ating mga teacher dahil para na rin iyan sa pagkatuto ng mga bata,” she added.