Cordillera mentors upset over unreliable Senior High textbooks

After the Department of Education (DepEd) Cordillera admitted that the intended number of classrooms for the Senior High School students is short of around 60percent, teachers from the Cordillera region also complain that incoming Grade 7 students will face the scarcity if not the absence of reliable and credible textbooks this coming school year 2017-2018.
According to Thomas Millanes of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Cordillera in a press conference here at Teachers’ Camp, Baguio City, there are still no textbooks or materials for the subjects Technical Livelihood Education (TLE), English and Pilipino. “Saan pay a kumpleto dagidiay libro ket asideg dan a sumrek isunga anya ngay ti usaren da piman?” (The needed books are not yet complete and the opening of classes is nearing so what will they use then?) he asked.
Millanes who prepares for necessary educational materials especially for the Grade 7 students said that one of the problems that they are facing is the unreliable and inappropriate contents of some textbooks as they were not properly evaluated before being printed. He cited the case in the textbook for the subject Araling Palipunan (AP) where he said that the Igorots of Mountain Province were portrayed erroneously as they were said to be that of the Aetas. “With all due respects to Aeta as our IP (indigenous peoples) brothers, they have their own identity as the Igorots have also their own,” he said. Such mistakes in the books and in other educational materials are harmful for the students as they will grow uninformed of the things they should know.
“Ang problema kasi dito ay kapag gumagawa kami ng instructional materials at ipapasa namin sa mga evaluators, parang dadaan sa butas ng karayom na marami pang komento at rebisyon pero kapag naman mga educational materials gaya ng mga libro na galing sa nasyunal, idinidiretso na nila sa mga paaralan kahit hindi dumaan sa mga evaluators at nirereview naman ng mga guro dito sa Kordilyera na mas alam yata nila ang mga kinakailangang datos at tamang impormasyon na base sa aktuwal na kalagayan ng rehiyon,” Millanes said.
He said that when they are already in class, the teachers will have to go over the books of their pupils and they will manually put corrections on them.
“Malaki ang binabayaran ng gobyerno sa mga textbooks, hindi kasalanan ng mga printing press kung mali ang kanilang ipiniprint, ang problema ay yung mga komokontrata sa kanila na mas inuuna ang makukuhang ganansiya kesa yung kapakanan ng mga mag-aaral,” Millanes said. Aldwin Quitasol / ABN

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