K-12 Curriculum Revamp

By Janela Bañanola |

Students and teachers endure the hot weather inside the classrooms of Rafael Palma Elementary School in San Andres Bukid, Metro Manila on April 25, 2023. (Photo by Edd Gumban from The Philippine Star)

Last January 30, 2023, Vice President and Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio shared the department's "Matatag" education agenda at the Basic Education Report to revamp the Philippines' K-12 program after it failed to meet its goal of making job-ready graduates.

Duterte, alongside her team, was tasked by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to revamp the Philippines' K-12 program after it failed to respond to problems regarding the nation's quality of education.

"All necessary inputs and points of view are being considered," President Marcos noted in his State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Marcos gave Duterte's team precisely one year in the School Year of 2022-2023 to provide a final answer and solution about the challenges and failure of the K-12 program.

Duterte noted that by revamping the K-12 curriculum, the department would downscale the number of learning areas within kindergarten to third grade from seven to five and place primary focus on foundational skills: strengthening literacy and numeracy programs, revitalizing science, technology, mathematics, and reading proficiencies by employing the findings of past programs and improve English proficiency and recognizing linguistic diversity.

The Vice President and Education Secretary also mentioned a review of implementing a mother-tongue-based multilingual education policy would also be conducted. It can integrate the formation values within students and ingrain the culture of peace.

She also said, "We will integrate peace competencies such as social awareness, responsibility, care for the environment, the value of diversity, self-esteem, positive character, resilience, and human security into the various areas of the K-12 curriculum."

Duterte further added that it's revealed in the reviews of the K-12 program that the teaching methods proved to be weak, especially in addressing the 21st-century skills of the students. With that, Duterte aims to assist teachers in improving their craft and skills that fit the demands of the 21st century.

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, now Congresswoman representing Pampangua’s 2nd District and senior deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, drafted a proposal on how the K-12 program should be redirected.

“Right now, there is a direction to study the removal and make Grades 11 and 12 voluntary (or only for those who will pursue) higher education,” Duterte stated while in an engagement in Oriental Mindoro.

Arroyo’s proposal would make the Senior High School levels (Grades 11 and 12) mandatory for learners who wish to obtain college degrees. These levels would then be known as “post-secondary, pre-university education.”

If approved, the proposal would return the basic education system to its former setup, where learners would be identified as high school graduates after kindergarten, six years of elementary school, and four years of high school.