About
5 pupils sharing 1 textbook — a problem that has become all too common in every public school. A problem I first experienced 25 years ago. A problem current elementary and high school students are still facing. And to add insult to the injury, the latest textbooks have been found to be riddled with errors — from simple spelling to flagrant factual errors.
Pouring it more money is not enough simply because it makes no sense in making more copies of defective textbooks. More money would benefit only the handful of publishers that has been cornering huge textbooks contracts — an existence of a cartel even the secretary of the Department of Education admits.
Changing policies and replacing the people at DepEd will not do good either as long as the current closed and centralized approach to textbook development remains. Currently, public scrutiny only happens once textbooks have been printed where errors, comments, and suggestions is too late a good thing.
We offer a different solution. A solution that can improve quality and reduce cost of the textbooks, simplify public access to educational materials, and allow more publishers to participate.
We will write textbooks in the open where contents are made available on the Internet from initial outline to final manuscript. This would allow every teacher, parent, student, professional, DepEd official, virtually anyone, to review the textbooks even before they get published.
We will release the textbooks under a license that would permit everyone to use and publish the textbooks without paying royalty to anyone. Thus, saving the government of content development costs and allowing more publishers to fulfill the demands of public (and even private) schools.
How can we achieve this?
We need volunteers — educators, authors, editors, proofreaders, illustrators, photographers, reviewers. There is no minimum age requirement and definitely no age limit. Tell your families, friends, colleagues, and contacts on what we are doing and invite them to join our group. We need every help we can get.
How can you join?
We’re just starting and there still plenty of rough spots in our setup. Right now, the best way to keep in touch is to join our mailing list. Just fill-in your email address below and click ‘Join’.
