‘What happened to critical thinking?… Why should it be absent from Effective Communication and the study of Philippine History and Society?’
SINCE June 16, when the 2025-2026 Department of Education school year began, senior high schools nationwide have been adjusting to the phased implementation of a revised curriculum. The new program has two key features: two “tracks” instead of four, and five core subjects rather than 15.
The old tracks — Academic, Sports, Arts and Design, and Technical-Vocational-Livelihood — have been replaced with the Academic and Technical-Professional.
Under the Academic track were four “strands”: Accountancy, Business and Management; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM); Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS), and General Academic. The old Tech-Voc covered strands in Agriculture and Fishery Arts, Home Economics, Industrial Arts, and Information and Communications Technology.
Taking the place of the strands are electives, from “clusters” corresponding to the former strands. Students in the Academic track will be required to take a minimum of nine electives, while those in TechPro will take at least two electives and render 320 hours in work immersion. All on top of five core subjects.
Previously, there were 15 core subjects — Oral Communication, Reading and Writing, Communication and Research in Filipino, Reading and Analysis of Various Texts for Research, 21st Century Literature, Contemporary Arts From the Regions, Media and Information Literacy,
General Math, Statistics and Probability, Earth and Life Science, Physical Science, Philosophy of the Human Person, PE and Health, Personality Development, and Understanding Culture, Society and Politics.
Students in the STEM strand also had to take Earth Science in lieu of Earth and Life Science, and Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction instead of Physical Science.
Now, they are down to Effective Communication, General Math, General Science, Life and Career Skills, and Pag-aaral ng Kasaysayan at Lipunang Pilipino.
In coming up with this plan, DepEd says the previous curriculum from 2016 fell short of “supporting clear, functional learner pathways.” According to the Department, the new scheme features “a stronger focus on foundational skills, balanced cognitive demands, a clearer articulation of 21st-century skills, a reduction in learning areas, and an intensified emphasis on Values and Peace Education.” The changes, which will affect an estimated 4 million senior high school (SHS) students, also aim to enhance the graduates’ employability.
The initial list of subjects shows that electives outnumber the minimum requirement for each track, which seems to give justice to the word, elective. Most of these came from the old strands. An exception is the Business and Entrepreneurship cluster, which identifies only six electives, whereas nine are required.
One concern that usually accompanies electives is whether they are all available on demand, in the semester that students need them. As is sometimes the case, given limited manpower and facilities, a program might be constrained to offer a fixed set of electives to meet the minimum, thereby defeating the purpose of electives. Should schools prioritize student demand or the availability of resources? One favors an ideal condition and sacrifices practicality, and vice-versa.
The radically culled core curriculum suggests that something was terribly wrong with the line-up initially drawn up, supposedly by experts. DepEd cites a number of implementation issues, but does not address the actual subjects themselves. What if the “strengthened” curriculum were to fall once more to implementation issues?
Some old core subjects were combined or discarded. Today’s Effective Communication absorbs Oral Communication, Reading and Writing, Communication Research, Reading and Analysis for Research, and Media and Information Literacy. Five subjects are compressed into one and not one of them made it as electives.
The new General Math retains the original Gen Math and includes Data and Probability. Likewise, General Science integrates Earth and Life Science and Physical Science.
Personality Development is now part of Life and Career Skills.
What happened to critical thinking? While DepEd cites President Marcos’ call for an education system that consciously develops students into critical thinkers, the phrase survives in just two core subjects: GenMath and GenSci. Why should it be absent from Effective Communication and the study of Philippine History and Society?
Just four months ago, Education Secretary Sonny Angara himself emphasized critical thinking. And yet, Media and Information Literacy, premised on critical thinking, has been axed. This would have been an excellent opportunity for students to explore a nagging concern but also an opportunity area of the times: Generative Artificial Intelligence, which does not even appear in DepEd’s SHS “shaping paper.”
Gone also are Philosophy of the Person, 21st Century Literature and Philippine Arts. Academic-tracked students in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities cluster can still choose them if they are offered. Students from the TechPro track may still take up to two of them, thanks to a “doorway” option. Given that the TechPro track requires only two electives, the likelihood that TechPro students will enroll in philosophy, the bedrock of critical thought, becomes rather slim.
