The education department assured the public that it will continuously polish its television broadcast content before the start of classes after Filipinos noticed that its test broadcast contained errors.
Undersecretary Alain Pascua of the Department of Education said that the agency has received reports concerning some of its content after it started its test broadcast on television on Tuesday.
“First time po namin itong gagawin, kaya may mga test runs. Mas nakatutok ito sa teknikal na aspeto ng broadcasting, mula recording, file conversion, ingestion, mapping, hanggang actual broadcasting,” he wrote on Twitter.
Pascua acknowledged the mistake and assured Filipinos that they will continuously fix and polish every aspect of the content as the country shifts to blended learning this school year in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Tama ang mga komento ng mamamayan na may mga mali nga sa accuracy at maging sa grammar at typography,” he said.
“Ang test broadcast ay isang pagkakataon para lalong busisiin pa ng aming Quality Assurance Teams na ang bawat ipalalabas ay napapaloob dito ang Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCs), tama ang pagkakagawa, at angkop ito sa mga manonood,” Pascua added.
“Asahan po ninyo na patuloy ang pagsasaayos na ginagawa ng DepEd upang maging maayos at handa ang lahat para sa darating na pagbubukas ng klase, mapa-online, radyo, TV o modular man,” he continued.
‘This is Grade 8 English?’
Pascua’s statement came after an alleged screenshot of one of its test broadcast went viral on Facebook.
Editor-writer Joel Pablo Salud shared the alleged screenshot and expressed his disbelief at the grammar and how the content’s sentence was structured.
“THIS is Grade 8 English? Anak nang buteteng laseng naman. This is DepEd’s online/TV classes? The one parents had to spend for in terms of cellphones and computers or TV? Is there anything you can say, DepEd?” he wrote.
Salud reacted to a multiple-choice question broadcasted by the agency that was supposedly part of Grade 8’s english lessons. It said:
“Tagaytay City is known for wonderful picturesque of the majestic Mount Taal. What does picturesque mean?”
The choices for the question were the following: “charming,” “running,” “ruined” and “perhaps.”
WADAPAK IS THIS? THIS is Grade 8 English? Anak nang buteteng laseng naman. This is DepEd's online/TV classes? The one…
Posted by Joel Pablo Salud on Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Another Facebook user pointed out that there is a “missing word” in the question and added that the answer choices were “problematic” as well.
“Merong missing word. the missing word in the question is VIEW,” he wrote.
“Using WONDERFUL in the item is a distraction, although wonderful is a fairly common and understandable word. WONDERFUL does not quite help the student figure out the meaning of picturesque. Removing ‘wonderful’ from the item would allow the student to focus on PICTURESQUE,” the online user added.
DepEd started testing the television broadcast of its content for the impending blended learning approach last Tuesday.
IBC-13 and Solar Learning are two of the stations which will air the educational shows but “volunteer media channels” were also up for consideration, according to DepEd Public Affairs Service Director June Arvin Gudoy.
The regional and division offices of the agency have also partnered with local radio and TV stations to broadcast the educational shows.
Classes for this school year will officially begin on August 24.
