The Department of Education (DepEd) said Wednesday the lesson that went viral for body-shaming actress and philanthropist Angel Locsin was not an official part of self-learning modules for distance learning.
DepEd Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said the material was only an assessment made by a teacher for a select group of learners to evaluate their learning for a Physical Education class.
“It was not really like used in the whole DepEd. It was just for a group of learners the teacher was handling,” he said in an interview with ANC.
The material, made by a male teacher in Occidental Mindoro, went viral and drew flak online for describing Locsin as “obese.” It also tagged actor Coco Martin as someone who likes to eat “fatty” foods with Locsin.
San Antonio said the material was “not acceptable” and has already been withdrawn. The DepEd has also apologized to Locsin for the incident.
Earlier this week, Locsin called out DepEd saying it must address bad conduct and discrimination, the “more relevant issue” at hand.
“What bothers me most is that apart from teaching incorrect grammar to students, DepEd seems unaffected that the said teacher is teaching bad conduct and sowing discrimination among the children,” she said.
“Anong mangyayare sa future kung ang mga kabataan ay tinuturuan ng pambabastos at pangungutya sa kapwa?“ she said.
San Antonio said the DepEd has been reminding teachers “to be very sensitive about social issues.”
“But unfortunately, some people have not been attentive to the instruction. We have to be careful about statements that will discriminate certain sectors, that will put to shame certain institutions or even human beings,” he said.
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