Teachers angry over ‘politics’ in school lessons

The education department was criticized by teachers on Friday for a learning module praising current Rodrigo and Duterte, including negative content about presidential candidate Maria Leone’s “Lenny” G. Robredo and fake approval of Britain’s Queen.

In an online module, students aged 17-18 need to identify spelling, grammar and content errors from a sample of news headlines, and statements that contain “unproven generalizations”, all involving Mrs. Robredo.

The module, which was created in 2020, began campaigning on social media on Thursday, just four weeks before the presidential election.

Mr Duterte is not running for re-election but has a bitter rivalry with Mrs Robredo, who has criticized his government’s epidemic response and the effectiveness of its bloody war on drugs.

The ACT Teachers’ Party, a congressional group representing teachers, has expressed outrage at the learning material and said teachers have fought hard against two years of epidemic restrictions on face-to-face education.

“Strict adherence to the modalities and safeguards in the module development will give them justice and ensure that the people’s tax actually goes for quality education instead of quality teaching materials and politics,” it said in a statement.

Education Secretary Leonor M. Briones said the module did not pass the standard review process and has since been withdrawn.

In a text message, he said authorities were also “making every effort to warn teachers against participating in party politics.”

Other exercises quote where students need to be tested for accuracy, reliability, and rationality, one of which, as reported by Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom about Mr Duterte, is “very fortunate to have Filipinos.”

Ms Robredo said on Friday that education authorities should not publish content that would “poison people’s minds.” – Reuters