VICE President and concurrent Education Secretary Sara Duterte said “peace competencies” will be embedded in various learning areas of the K to 12 program that is currently undergoing review.
Duterte said the inclusion of “peace competencies” is part of the overall efforts of the DepEd to make the K to 12 curriculum relevant to nation-building under the Marcos administration’s Bansang Makabata, Batang Makabansa agenda for the basic education sector.
“We will embed the culture of peace in our curriculum to develop learners who are peace builders in communities,” Duterte said.
She said this move is vital in ensuring that learners would lead the promotion of peace and order in war-inflicted areas.
“We will integrate ‘peace competencies’ such as social awareness, responsibility, care for the environment, value for diversity, self-esteem, positive character, resilience, and human security into the various learning areas of the K to 12 curriculum,” Duterte said.
The DepEd is now finalizing the review of the K to 10 curriculum while its Senior High School curriculum is also currently under review.
Last month, Duterte urged parents and guardians to force their children to attend school, saying it would help them not to get recruited by terrorist groups.
She said the DepEd is developing a “national peace curriculum” that would be included in the K to 12 curriculum as part of its long-term efforts to address insurgency in the country.
“Our goal is to equip our children and youth with conflict transformation skills and the strength and discernment to resist recruitment into radical and terror groups,” Duterte said.
