K-10 curriculum ‘premature,’ says Alliance of Concerned Teachers
A teacher starts the pilot implementation of the Matatag K-10 program in Tinajeros National High School in Malabon City. —LYN RILLON
MANILA, Philippines — The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) called on the Department of Education (DepEd)to stop its “premature” and “experimental” implementation of the K-10 curriculum that would only treat the children as “guinea pigs.”
This as DepEd kicked off the pilot test of the revised K-10 curriculum, also known as the Matatag curriculum, in 35 schools around the country on Monday, September 25, 2023.
READ MORE: DepEd’s revised K-10 curriculum pilot run begins Monday
According to the ACT in a statement, the “Matatag” curriculum is just a rebranding of the current Enhanced Basic Education Curriculum, whose main goal is to follow the global demand for “cheap and docile laborers.”
“Just like in the implementation of K-12 in 2012, it is disheartening that after more than a decade, the DepEd would tell the public that an implemented curriculum is problematic,” the ACT said in a statement.
No consultation
ACT said “the benchmarking of the 21st century skills development to produce graduates is aligned to the demands of foreign entities.”
“This runs counter to our need to produce graduates that should be inclined to the constitutional mandate of education to establish, maintain and support a complete, adequate and integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people and society,” it added.
READ MORE: Central Visayas among 7 regions first to test revised K-10 program
The group also claimed that the revision of the curriculum did not undergo an “open, democratic and genuine consultation with education stakeholders.”
ACT said that instead of hastily implementing the new curriculum, the DepEd should conduct an evidence-based nationwide learning assessment to gauge the extent of learning loss brought about by “faulty” curriculum and exacerbated by the two-year school closure during the pandemic.
‘Few adjustments’
In a Viber message to reporters, Education Assistant Secretary Francis Cesar Bringas said all 35 pilot schools from the seven regions started the first day of implementing the Matatag curriculum.
On the sidelines of a memorandum signing with the Government Service Insurance System on Monday, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte said the pilot test will seek to determine the challenges in the implementation of the new curriculum.
READ MORE: DepEd issues list of schools that will pilot test ‘Matatag’ curriculum
“So that by next year, in the phased implementation of the Matatag curriculum, there will just be a few adjustments to be made,” she said.
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