EDITORIAL - Forgivable, but action must be taken immediately

Modules were given out for students and pupils of public schools earlier this week, and it didn’t take long before they became controversial because of the errors that have been found in them.

These errors ranged from wrong grammar to questions that didn’t make sense, among others.

Apparently, the mistakes aren’t only in the printed modules. Errors, like an incorrect mathematical formula, were also observed in the educational programs being aired by the Department of Education.

The department has called for understanding as it struggles to carry out the new methods of learning.

Yes, these can be forgiven. People have to understand that these methods of teaching are something that has never been tried here before on a scale this massive. The modules and programs were also quickly cobbled together because of the circumstances brought about by the pandemic. By people who are feeling strain of this very difficult time. So you can’t expect everything to immediately go smoothly.

On top of that there is human error. Those who conceptualized the modules and programs, designed them, and typed or shot them are still humans after all. And humans are prone to mistakes. The human who has never made a mistake has yet to be born.

Yes, these mistakes are forgivable. However, they must be rectified immediately. Steps must also be taken to make sure these never reach final edition or final print as much as possible.

We have to remember that our students were found to be lagging behind in math, science, and reading after a test conducted by the Program for International Student Assessment in 2018.

If our students are getting error-riddled learning materials on top of the poor reading, math, and science skills they already have, imagine how more negatively this will impact their educations.

In case we forgot what is at stake here, it is not just the future of our children, but the future of the nation also. Someday these children who are doing their school work at home will be the ones running this country. They will compose the government, the workforce, the management, the Church, the farming sector, the teachers --practically everything this nation is made of.

It will not do our nation any good if we have children who will grow up deficient when it comes to basic education.