Jea Nicole Jacot

During a House Basic Education Committee hearing on May 28, an official from the Department of Education (DepEd) recommended dropping Art Appreciation, The Contemporary World, and Ethics from college general education (GE) subjects to decrease college years by one semester.  


Assistant DepEd Secretary Janir Datukan stated that 24 units of general education subjects, which would equate to a full semester, could be removed from the college curriculum by aligning these with five existing core senior high school (SHS) subjects, while the three subjects would be removed entirely. 

"Meron na po kaming five [subjects], 15 units na po out of 50 ang existing units ng  GE ang nasa senior high school na. Yung 15 na 'yun madadagdagan pa ng three courses, yung art appreciation, contemporary world, ethics,” Datukan said on the revised SHS curriculum.

According to DepEd’s presentation, the three GE courses can already be covered in the basic education curriculum, where Art Appreciation can be mapped against the Arts subject, Contemporary World with Araling Panlipunan, and Ethics with Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) and Values Education.

“Nasaan siya from grade 7 to 12? Present na po sila. We don't want a duplication. Kung idadagdag po natin yung 3 units of 15, meron po tayong madadagdag a total of nine sa 15. That's already equivalent to one semester,” he explained. 

Meanwhile, the five core SHS subjects would be renamed to follow Commission on Higher Education's (CHED) GE subject titles: Effective Communication/Mabisang Komunikasyon becomes Purposive Communication, Life and Career Skills becomes Understanding the Self, General Mathematics becomes Mathematics in the Modern World, General Science becomes Science, Technology, and Society, and Pag-aaral ng Kasaysayan at Lipunang Pilipino becomes Readings in Philippine History. 

"The purpose is to lessen the number of units so we can shorten the years [in college]. So we are looking at each of the courses to see what can be merged and ensure there are no redundancies,” Levi Elipane said, a member of the CHED technical panel. 

Karol Mark Yee, Executive Director of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), cited a Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) report, which shows that college programs in the Philippines carry more units than those in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, and the European Union (EU).

“The study shows that across the board, college courses in the Philippines exceed requirements in ASEAN, Australia, and EU, with most bachelor's programs being ‘GE-heavy, internship-light, he said.

Non-strand-aligned electives

The revised SHS curriculum allows students to select elective courses they believe will either strengthen their college applications or better prepare them for employment after graduation.
 
However, House appropriations committee chairperson and Marikina City Second District Representative Stella Quimbo raised a concern regarding the said updated curriculum, noting that students can choose their desired electives instead of being strictly limited to their respective strands. 

“Instead of strands, we have clusters, and students are allowed to choose electives within those clusters. For example, if I am a STEM student, is it possible for me to avoid trigonometry under the new curriculum?” Quimbo asked.

“We are strengthening the guidance counseling program to exactly avoid that kind of incident,” Datukan replied.

Quimbo, in response, stressed that they can only recommend courses to students, not force them to enroll in them.

The proposed curriculum for the ‘strengthened’ SHS program is scheduled for pilot implementation in the School Year 2025–2026.