An education advocacy group urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to counter online cheating groups by establishing small groups to “help students in need of further tutoring” through learning support aides (LSAs).
This as news over the weekend revealed the existence of an “Online Kopyahan” community on Facebook that had reached more than 600,000 members.
“The existence of online cheating groups should also prompt the Department of Education to re-examine how it conducts the blended learning modality of education.”
DepEd started hiring LSAs last year to guide students and households in their chosen learning delivery modalities, assist teachers in lessons and preparation of delivery, and monitor and track students’ progress and achievement.
The department announced in August that it would continue engaging LSAs for School Year 2021-2022.
“The DepEd needs to hire more LSAs and create as soon as possible workable guidelines on providing additional support to those who are finding their lessons difficult to understand,” said Philippine Educators Alliance for Community Empowerment (PEACE) Party-list President Marie Paz T. Abante.
The existence of online cheating groups should also prompt the Department of Education to re-examine how it conducts the blended learning modality of education, Abante, a long-time educator added.
“The DepEd needs to hire more LSAs and create as soon as possible workable guidelines on providing additional support to those who are finding their lessons difficult to understand.”
“The existence of online cheating groups indicates that our learning modules are not as conducive to learning as we would like them to be. This underscores that it’s not only errors that the DepEd should watch out for, but also the quality of the design of these modules to ensure students actually learn from them,” she said.
The DepEd should also work with the Sangguniang Kabataan and other youth groups, PEACE Party-list’s chairman for its Committee on Community Programs, Bishop Rodolfo Juan meanwhile suggested.
“Maraming fresh ideas ang mga youth groups natin na makakatulong sa DepEd sa pagsiguro na ‘audience-appropriate’ ang mga ginagawa nila. I hope they will be tapped to combat the proliferation of online cheating and in helping make education more effective and interesting,” said Juan.
