Official Statement on the Negros Oriental Module Issue Incident

Cebu City, September 15, 2021 ── The Department of Education Regional Office VII (DepEd RO VII) has received a report yesterday, September 14, 2021, from a certain local media about a Grade 1 student of Sibulan, Negros Oriental who was having difficulty reading her module. The report was also espoused by an actual video footage of the said student crying while assisted by her mother and by a copy of the ‘module’ which was allegedly given to the student.

DepEd RO VII has called out for an immediate investigation with its Curriculum Learning and Management Division and with the Schools Division of Negros Oriental Province on the said incident. The concerned offices have submitted official reports of their investigation. Details of which are enumerated in the following statements:

1. On the Grade 1 Student having difficulty reading her module:
   The parent of the said Grade 1 learner has admitted that her child’s first acquired language or her mother tongue (English Language) has mainly caused her difficulty in understanding and reading her modules both written in Filipino Language and in Bisaya Dialect. The parent has also expressed another factor that may have caused the aforementioned challenges of her child: that the Grade 1 module, which its texts and illustrations being printed in black and white, may not be as appealing for a seven year – old kid who would apparently be attracted to a more colorful and interactive learning material. Nevertheless, the parent has pointed out that teachers of the public school concerned have provided her with utmost support in her child’s modular learning experience and that she will try her best to be greatly and positively involved in her child’s learning process.
   The investigation has further revealed that mastery of reading skills is not yet a part of Week 1’s learning targets/objectives in Grade 1 level.
2. On the ‘module’ which was allegedly given to the Grade 1 student:
   The copy of the module provided by the local media to this Office is found to be a learning material for Grade 5 students and is ‘not part of the Central Office’s conformed Self Learning Modules (SLMs) nor evaluated by the Regional Office’.

Hence, this Office denies the allegation that such a module is given to the involved learner in Negros Oriental Division nor copies of which have been distributed, especially to Grade 1 students who may consider and/or treat the material as advanced and its learning objectives inappropriate to the competencies ought to be mastered by a Grade 1 learner.

While the Department of Education Regional Office VII (DepEd RO VII) deeply acknowledges and realizes relative challenges to education in this time of health crisis, especially those which have been pronounced and/or expressed by its learning communities, internal and external stakeholders, and the vast general public, it would like reiterate its commitment to support the implementation of the Basic Education Learning Continuity. Together with its 19 Schools Division Offices, it shall continue to encourage utmost involvement of its household partners, especially in their children’s distance learning experiences and proper coordination with the concerned teachers; further develop and afford the best blended learning experience there is to all of its learners; and improve the delivery of its basic education services amidst the threat of this pandemic.

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