CEBU CITY, Philippines — The pilot test of the Matatag curriculum or K-10 in the region got a positive response from parents, an official of the Department of Education in Central Visayas (DepEd-7) said.
Region 7 is included in the list of schools chosen by DepEd for the pilot test of the Matatag curriculum on September 25.
Moreover, in Region 7, there were five schools mainly from Cebu Province that took part in the pilot test including Tindog Integrated School in Medellin, San Fernando North Central School in San Fernando, Tabogon Central Elementary School in Tabogon, Dumanjug National High School in Dumanjug, and Liloan National High School in Liloan, Cebu.
Dr. Salustiano Jimenez, regional director of DepEd-7, said on Tuesday, October 3, that the pilot test of the said curriculum applied to Kindergarten, Grades 1, 4, and 7.
READ: 7 regions first to test revised K-10 program
Jimenez said that he visited one of the pilot schools in the province during the Matatag Curriculum implementation, but he did not specify which school.
“I talked with the parents during their orientation and the parents are happy knowing about the kind of curriculum that their children are already been using,” he said.
Moreover, he said that the Matatag curriculum is a “decongested curriculum” which means that 70 percent of the learning competencies from the previous curriculum have been deleted, leaving only 30 percent now.
About the curriculum
Jimenez said that the remaining 30 percent of competencies are “essential competencies.”
“The other 70 percent competencies can be developed within our learners along the way while developing the core and essential competencies,” he said.
He added that the Matatag curriculum is aligned with the curriculum in other countries.
“So that whenever there will be international assessments, it’s already fair for us. Unlike before, possibly one of the reasons why we are low in assessment,” he said.
The regional director further said that with the new Matatag curriculum, there should be an alignment with the competencies to be developed in children across countries outside the Philippines.
Assessment
Jimenez added that based on the reports he received from the Cebu province, the teachers and students were happy with the new curriculum, describing it as “decongested.”
“Dili na [pariha] atong time nga previous nga ang mga maestra kinahanglan mukusog gyud nga dalion gyud og human kay daghan kaayong competencies [nga] kinahanglan mahuman gyud ang libro nga daghan kaayo og lessons nga sometimes, ma sacrifice ang quality because they are after the delivery of instructions,” he stated.
Meanwhile, on the learners’ side, they would end up getting exhausted because of the amount of lessons they had to consume for a day.
Jimenez added that the Matatag curriculum focuses on mastery and time for both learners and the teachers.
However, he said that it is too early for now to say that the said curriculum is effective or not.
Besides Region 7, the other regions in the country that took part in the pilot test were the National Capital Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Regions 1, 2, 12, and Caraga.
The Matatag curriculum was launched on August 10.
The phased implementation of the said curriculum will begin in the School Year (SY) 2024-2025 which would cover the Kindergarten, Grades 1, 4, and 7.
For SY 2025-2026 will be Grades 2, 5, and 8; for SY 2026-2027 are Grades 3, 6, and 9; and for SY 2027-2028 will be the Grade 10. /rcg
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