Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 20) – Education Secretary Leonor Briones said the Department of Education has a zero tolerance policy against stereotyping and other forms of discrimination, after a photo of a supposed learning module portraying farmers as impoverished went viral online.
The DepEd, once again, has found itself under fire after a netizen posted the illustration, supposedly from one of the department’s learning materials, which showed a group of people, labeled as “farmers,” wearing tattered clothes.
Senator Pia Cayetano, in a Senate deliberation on DepEd budget on Thursday, read a message from Briones which stated: “Rest assured that we will look into this matter and whether this is really from DepEd and conduct a full investigation on the incident.”
Briones said that sanctions will be imposed on those who will be found responsible. Cayetano also relayed the department’s assurance that it will issue a statement to clarify that such is a harmful depiction.
This came after senators brought up incorrect and controversial items found in learning modules and which have been making the rounds on social media.
“I’d like to know who decides on the content of the module?” asked Senator Grace Poe. “Paano nakakalusot ‘yung ganun? (How are those able to pass review?)”
Senator Kiko Pangilinan was also among those who took offense at the illustration, stressing that farmers deserve positive recognition for their contributions to society. He added that there is a need to put an end to what he called a “longstanding bias” against agriculture.
“We understand that the vast majority of our farmers are poor, but to stereotype them, parang ano ang magiging mensahe sa ating kabataan (what message will that send to our youth)? Na hindi katanggap-tanggap ang pagiging magsasaka (That being a farmer is unacceptable)?” Pangilinan said.
“We don’t want to teach our children to look down upon farming and farmers,” he continued.
This was not the first time that DepEd has found itself in hot water for educational materials distributed to children.
Besides grammatical and factual errors spotted by netizens in some of its modules, the department also has recently faced public backlash over a learning material which described a local celebrity as “obese.” It clarified, however, that the material is not part of the self-learning modules it developed, but is instead a worksheet made by a MAPEH teacher in Occidental Mindoro.
