A Textbook Case

This is a bummer for students but a boon to people looking for good cocktail-party chatter:

DepEd admits new books riddled with errors
By Rainier Allan Ronda
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) announced yesterday that a teachers’ guide would be issued to public elementary schools nationwide to correct the errors in newly purchased English textbooks.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said the teaching guides will help correct errors of the book “English for You and Me” Grades 1 to Six series, authored by Elodie Cada and published by Bookwise Publishing, which are being distributed to public schools.

“The teaching guides to correct errors in English textbooks are being finalized for printing,” Lapus told The STAR.

Lapus said that a content study of the textbooks conducted last February had confirmed the errors pointed out by textbook error watchdog Antonio Calipjo-Go, who said that the books contained more than 500 errors, including grammatical and conceptual ones.

The DepEd had earlier attempted to ignore Go’s claims that the textbooks were defective, saying that Go had taken many items out of context.

The DepEd used a $200-million loan from the World Bank to purchase the English for You and Me series and other books, which were supposed to have undergone a thorough four-level content evaluation by education experts to prevent errors.