A Grade 5 student from Polomolok, South Cotabato received praise from netizens when his father posted his letter to the Department of Education (DepEd) due to the alleged gender bias in his learning module.
The child was identified as Miguel Lapid, a student of Polomolok Central Elementary School.
In the photo uploaded by Michael Jess Lapid, the child’s father, activity in the module can be seen where a child must match some descriptions to the boy and girl.
Based on the picture of the answer key, it is said that the correct portrayal of the man is cool, strong, and brave while a woman should be a crybaby, modest, and has mood swings — something that Miguel did not agree with.
In a letter written by Miguel for DepEd, he said that the “stereotyping” and “bias” of the answer can hurt others.
According to Michael, even though Miguel was only 11, the boy already knew about gender issues because it was taught by his parents as well as the teacher.
“Nakita ko na stuck siya sa part na ‘yon ng module. Nalilito siya kung paano niya sasagutan kasi sabi niya may mali sa module, pointing out na may gender bias daw,” said Michael.
Grade 5 student calls out DepEd over ‘gender bias’ in learning module
(I saw that he was stuck in that ‘part’ of the module. He was confused on how to answer because he said there was something wrong with the module, pointing out that there was gender bias.)
Michael advised Miguel to make a note for the teacher.
“Iniwan namin siya to work on his module and later on, pinakita niya na ‘yong letter niya,” said Michael.
(We left him to work on his module and later on, he showed us his letter.)
This is not the first time they have seen an error in the module but they have just informed Miguel that mistakes are inevitable.
DepEd and the child’s school have not yet commented on the incident.
DepEd previously said it has formal channels through which the public can report errors found in self-learning modules.