A bill has been filed at the House of Representatives seeking to “future-proof” learning materials in the country’s basic education system and resolve the longstanding problem of inadequate textbooks for students in public schools.
The key to achieving these twin goals is by strengthening the partnership between the Department of Education (DepEd) and the National Book Development Board (NBDB), which would be jointly tasked to formulate and implement a National Textbook and Learning Resources Plan as provided under House Bill 10734.
Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan of party-list Bicol Saro filed the bill after the Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom II) found that students in public elementary and high schools have struggled to learn for about a decade with incomplete or no textbooks at all.
“Our bill provides the answer to the longstanding problem of our public school learners who find it hard to study because of the lack, and even the complete absence, of textbooks. This has a big negative impact on their ability to study efficiently, especially in the subjects of Math, Science, and Reading, where Filipino students have logged low test scores,” Yamsuan said.
The lawmaker pointed out that despite having the budget to buy textbooks, the DepEd was able to procure only 27 types of textbooks for Grades 1 to 10 since 2012. Moreover, since the K-to-12 curriculum was introduced, only textbooks for Grades 5 to 6 have been procured.
By amending the provisions of the NBDB Charter under Republic Act 8047, Yamsuan’s proposed measure gives the NBDB a more active role in the preparation and production of textbooks by mandating DepEd to jointly work with it in preparing the specific policies, guidelines, and measures on the provision of public school textbooks and learning resources.
The bill also requires DepEd to phase out its elementary and secondary textbook publication and distribution functions within a three-year period and support the phasing in of private sector publishers to assume these tasks, according to Yamsuan.
