THE Department of Education (DepEd) opened to the public its online consultation on the revised senior high school (SHS) program which will be pilot tested this coming school year.
The DepEd said the online consultation opened last April 4 and will last until April 11.
“To participate, we recommend starting with the consultation packet for an overview of the proposed changes. However, you may also review the curriculum guides directly before proceeding to the consultation platform to submit your comments,” the DepEd said, adding that it needs public feedback.
The revised SHS curriculum has undergone review for several years now as part of DepEd’s effort to make it more responsive to the needs of the graduates and address the job mismatch in the country.
The initial results of the pilot testing will guide the DepEd in its decision on whether all senior high schools in the country will implement the revised curriculum by school year 2026-2027.
Earlier, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said senior high school students will have to undergo more hours of on-the-job training and apprenticeship as part of efforts to further hone their skills and increase their chances of being employed.
He said DepEd’s industry partners made this request.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. earlier directed Angara to prioritize improving the employability of senior high school graduates.
A report released by the Philippine Business for Education in July 2024 showed that there are now more companies open to hiring senior high school graduates, but many still prefer college graduates, adding that the job-skills mismatch persists.
The report, titled “PBEd’s 2024 Jobs Outlook Study” covering 299 participating companies, showed that almost half or 46 percent, of them currently hire K to 12 graduates, while large companies – 63 percent – are more likely to hire professionals compared to micro, small and medium enterprises.
The report said this is an improvement over a similar study in 2018, which found that only three out of five companies were willing to hire senior high school graduates.
The 2018 study also showed that only one out of five firms were ready with hiring policies for senior high school graduates.
Among the salient features of the revised curriculum is a streamlined core of subjects from the previous 15 per semester to just five per year.
The DepEd said the five are Effective Communications, Life Skills, General Science, General Mathematics and Pag-aaral ng Kasaysayan at Lipunang Pilipino.
The subjects that are not part of the five will be called “electives,” according to the department.
Time allotment for the core and elective subjects will also be adjusted to give more time for discussion and enhance the learning process, as well as meet the requirements of the curriculum.
The DepEd initiated the revision of the K to 12 curriculum in 2023 during the time of Vice President and then DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte.
The revised K to 10 curriculum, also known as the Matatag curriculum, was Duterte’s main program in her two-year stint as DepEd chief.
It includes the “decongestion” of the curriculum to improve the quality of basic education in the country.
Among the revisions in the K to 10 program are reducing the number of competencies and placing greater emphasis on the development of foundational skills such as literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional skills to Kinder to Grade 3 learners.
Prior to its revision, the K to 10 curriculum had seven competencies, namely, Mother Tongue, Filipino, English, Mathematics, Araling Panlipunan, MAPEH, and Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao.
However, under the revised K to 10 program, there are only five competencies, namely, Language, Reading and Literacy, Mathematics, Makabansa, and Good Manners and Right Conduct.
