The Department of Education (DepEd) has launched a new curriculum for Senior High School (SHS) in 841 schools nationwide this school year. The change aims to reduce the number of lessons and better prepare students for work or college.
According to Education Secretary Sonny Angara, SHS has too many subjects, making it difficult for students to focus. From 33 subjects in two years, there will be only 5 core subjects such as Life Skills, General Math, Science, Communication, and Study of Philippine History and Society. In addition, work immersion hours will also be doubled from 340 to 640 hours.
Along with the SHS reform, the MATATAG curriculum will also be implemented for Grades 2, 3, 5 and 8 this year. Meanwhile, the PNP ensured that the opening of classes nationwide was peaceful. More than 37,000 police officers were deployed to schools for Safe Back-to-School.
Meanwhile, President Marcos also signed the rules of the Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program (ETEEAP). Its goal is to help those who did not finish college due to work, obtain a diploma using their work experience.
But according to Rep. France Castro, these reforms are not enough. He highlighted the shortage of 165,000 classrooms and 56,050 teachers nationwide. He also called temporary measures such as multiple shifts and hybrid learning in overcrowded schools a “band-aid” solution.