EDUCATION Secretary Sonny Angara yesterday said there will be a “curriculum stability” under his watch while “dramatic actions” are needed to address the perennial classroom shortage in the country.
In an interview after attending his first flag-raising ceremony as DepEd chief, Angara said the Matatag curriculum championed by his predecessor, Vice President Sara Duterte, will remain in place.
“I want to have curriculum stability. They say every time there is a new DepEd secretary, there is also a new curriculum. But I have no plans to change the curriculum,” said Angara, who assumed the top DepEd post last week.
“We just want to work from what’s already there, so we will continue the piloting of the Matatag curriculum for Grades 1, 4, and 7 for this year tapos sa susunod na taon ‘yung Grades 2, 3, 5, and 8,” he added.
The Matatag curriculum or the revised K to 10 curriculum was Duterte’s main program in her two-year stint as DepEd chief.
It targets the “decongestion” of the current curriculum to improve the quality of basic education in the country.
Among the revisions in the K to 10 program include reducing the number of competencies and greater emphasis on the development of foundational skills such as literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional skills to Kinder to Grade 3 learners.
The current curriculum has seven competencies, namely, Mother Tongue, Filipino, English, Mathematics, Araling Panlipunan, MAPEH, and Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao.
Under the Matatag curriculum there will only be five competencies, namely, Language, Reading and Literacy, Mathematics, Makabansa, and GMRC.
The DepEd has yet to release the result of its review of the K12 or Senior High School curriculum.
CLASSROOM SHORTAGE
Angara promised dramatic actions to address the classroom shortage, which he said stands at around 159,000 nationwide.
“If I recall it right, the classroom backlog stands at about 159,00. The problem here is that the backlog grows by 12,000 every year because of the population increase, and we are only able to construct almost 2,000 classrooms every year.
“So, we need to do something dramatic here. I think we need to study the standard in the construction of classrooms,” he said.
Although he did not go into details, Angara said among the things he is looking into is “early procurement activities” for classrooms.
Last year, DepEd Assistant Secretary Francis Cesar Bringas said classroom shortage in public schools rose to 159,000 from the previous year’s 91,000.
Bringas said the 159,000 was “accumulated” shortage over the years and included the 440 classrooms totally damaged by typhoons and other natural calamities in 2023.
During the Senate hearing on the DepEd budget for 2024, Bringas said the department would need at least P397 billion to address the current classroom backlogs. Each classroom costs around P2 million.
The classroom shortage led some schools in highly-congested areas in Metro Manila, Cebu City and parts of Calabarzon to implement three shifts of classes every day.
RBPMS SUSPENSION
Angara said he will suspend for at least one month the submission by teachers of documents under the Results-Based Performance Management System (RBPMS).
He said he understood the concerns raised by teachers that the submission of the performance report nearly coincides with the opening of classes this month, adding more burden to them.
“The report reviews the performance of the previous school year 2023-2024. But the teachers complained that the submission of many documents coincides with the opening of classes,” he said.
In DepEd Memorandum Order No.1 issued yesterday afternoon, Angara formally suspended the submission of the RBPMS.
“All activities related to the RBPMS at the school level, including performance planning and commitment, monitoring, assessment, and evaluation of the school and individual personnel (school heads teachers and non-teaching personnel at the school level) shall be suspended until further notice,” it said.
Last month, Malacanang ordered the suspension of the RBPMS and the Performance-Based Incentive System in the public sector due to duplication and redundancy issues that needed to be addressed first.
STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE
Angara also vowed to improve the performance of Filipino students in national and international assessments. He refused to blame anyone for the poor performance of Filipino students.
“Quite frankly, it’s become an embarrassment for us. It’s become a national embarrassment. I’m not blaming anyone. What I’m saying is we should work together if we want to resolve this problem,” he said.
“We must put our best thoughts, our best intentions, and our best actions together to achieve the best results,” he added.
Filipino students are among the lowest performers in the new Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test on creative thinking, garnering a mean score of only 14, way beyond the 33 average set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that was released last month.
The new PISA study measures the ability of 15-year-old students to generate and evaluate new ideas, along with other aspects of creativity.
It is the first time that PISA tested students on the said criteria.
The 14-mean score of Filipino students placed the Philippines in the bottom four of the 64 countries included in the study.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the results of another PISA study showed that Filipino students fared worst among more than 70 countries in terms of reading comprehension.
A December 2023 PISA report had the same results, showing that the average scores of Filipino students in reading, mathematics and science have not improved significantly compared to other countries.
The report stated that mean scores showed that Filipino students aged 15 years old garnered only 356 points in science, 347 in reading, and 355 in mathematics.
The mean score for math among OECD countries was 472 points for mathematics, 476 in reading and, 485 in science.
HELP NEEDED
Angara asked DepEd officials and employees to assist him in addressing the problems confronting basic education.
Angara called on all DepEd personnel to have a “constructive dialogue and come up with solutions soon” with him.
“Let me reiterate my call for your assistance. May kasabihan nga po sa Pilipino, mag-isa mabilis, sama sama malayo,” he said. “Many problems are decades-old, have historical origins, so ang importante diyan unawain natin ang mga problema. Intindihin natin.,”
He said career DepEd employees have more experience and know more about the problems needing to be resolved.
Angara said his office will always be open to anyone and is more than willing to listen to any advice, ideas or solutions.
“Let’s talk. Let’s have a constructive dialogue and let’s come up with solutions soon because the President is really awaiting results,” he said.