MANILA - The Department of Education (DepEd) on Friday maintained that all self-learning modules distributed to millions of students underwent quality assurance inspection despite few errors on the educational materials.

In a virtual forum, Education Undersecretary Toni Umali assured the public the 667 million self-learning modules that the agency had so far printed were vetted, and if there were more errors, they vowed to shape up.

"Sa bilang na ibinigay ko, siguro naman puwede natin sabihin na, as general rule, undoubtedly our self-learning modules are all quality assured, except for some," he said.

(From the figure I gave, maybe we could say, as a general rule, undoubtedly our self-learning modules are all quality assured, except for some.)

While DepEd officials were saddened by inaccuracies in the learning materials, which drew mixed reactions on social media, Umali said they welcomed the criticism in order to do better.

"Inaamin natin na merong nakakalusot na mangilanngilan. Kami po'y nagpapasalamat sa mga nakakakita nito at pinapaabot sa ating kaalaman," he said.

(We admit there were errors that slipped through. We thanked those who spotted them and informed us.)

During the Tapatan sa Aristocrat virtual forum, the education official said textbooks would be distributed in the coming weeks to supplement the self-learning modules.

He also revealed that DepEd would not be holding periodical examinations in public schools this year in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Instead, written outputs and performance tasks will serve as basis for grading the students, Umali said.

Classes in public schools in the country opened last Monday under a blended distance learning system due to the continuing threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The government has prohibited in-person classes until a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available in the country.

More than 24.7 million students enrolled for the school year despite the pandemic, according to DepEd data as of Oct. 7.

Of the total number of learners, some 22.5 million are in public schools while the rest are enrolled in private schools.