Teachers concerned over new school year

MANILA, Philippines — The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) expressed concerns over the scheduled opening of classes on Monday, saying that teachers and students will continue to bear the brunt of government’s failure to address the perennial problems in the education sector.

“The ACT expresses deep concern over the opening of the new school year… where children, teachers, and parents will face new burdens due to the government’s failure to resolve fundamental problems in the education system,” the group said yesterday.

“Our education system, already battered by calamities and chronic neglect, will inevitably face disastrous school opening due to the government’s failure to address massive shortages and its rushed implementation of ill-conceived programs like the MATATAG curriculum,” it added.

The ACT lamented that the Department of Education (DepEd)’s MATATAG basic education curriculum is expected to increase the teachers’ teaching workload by 30 percent, from the current six teaching loads per teacher to eight teaching loads per teacher under the new curriculum.

“This means more students and classes to focus on, more outputs to check, and more grades to compute. Also, there are extended class hours for children, which may last until 8 p.m. or later in some schools. This gambles with the well-being and safety of our students,” the group stated.