Review system of selecting public school textbooks

We belong to a group of independent publishers of textbooks and supplementary materials who want to air our views and sentiments regarding the present deplorable state of the local textbook publishing industry. We are much inspired and motivated by the latest article written by textbook crusader Antonio Calipjo Go titled “Wrecking ball” (Talk of the Town, 12/27/15).

We are dumbfounded to know that another textbook published by the Department of Education contains so many errors (2.4 errors per page)! What the students will learn from such reading materials, we wonder. While the grammar and information contained in the book are atrociously bad, misinterpreted or wrongly articulated, the defects pale in comparison to the textbook’s seemingly unabashed disregard for the safety of the child. A science textbook that instructs pupils to “place your head inside a large basin filled with water,” or advises a child to go to a window ledge just to find out what colors white light is made up of, screams of irresponsible child endangerment! Why would you need a window ledge to see if white light is made up of colors in the first place? It is ironic that the same people who commissioned, undertook and produced these books are the same people who cited content problems as one of their reasons for suspending, for years now, the acquisition of new textbooks from publishers.

Also, in 2013, Education Secretary Armin Luistro imposed a moratorium on the purchase of supplementary reading materials, reference books and other instructional materials, giving as his reason the need for the DepEd to review whether or not the supplementary instructional materials were reasonably priced and needed in the first place. Three years have passed and little progress, if any, has been made regarding the moratorium. This measure has stagnated the development of books and caused a severe lack of supply of educational materials for the youth.

We’ve been following closely Go’s advocacy for much of the past 20 years. In 2013, Go publicly exposed the very many errors of eight defective learner’s materials published by the DepEd itself.

Recently, it became public knowledge that a select group has been invited to a bidding for new textbooks with seemingly tailor-made requirements, where only the biggest publishers may participate.

The system of reviewing, selecting and procuring textbooks used in public schools must be overhauled. It favors big-time publishers at the expense of small-medium publishers like us who nevertheless do not lack the drive, passion and commitment to come up with dynamic instructional materials that really and truly intend to teach and to instruct. Furthermore, the present system is very much against the spirit of free enterprise and favors a

monopolistic system.

—FLORINIA ESPIRITU SANTO, JESCIE JAMES L. PALABAY, BERNADETTE CARRASCO, CRESENCIA IDANG, MEDELITA N. GARCES, CELSO G. GARCES, DELINA Y. ZAFRA,

LUCIA R. CARRASCO, NERISSA BAGO, ELIZABETH C. FABILLARAN,  JUANITA BUSIO, DAISY DE LEON, CLARISSA MONTEMAYOR, BETHEL G. GARCIA,  JOSEFINA SISON