Draft DepEd curriculum recognizes red-tagging as rights violation
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education is eyeing to teach students about red-tagging as a human rights violation under Araling Panlipunan, according to a draft new curriculum for basic education released last week.
Even as Vice President Sara Duterte — concurrently education secretary — has repeatedly traded barbs with a teacher's group over red-tagging accusations, human rights education under the proposed Araling Panlipunan curriculum includes a discussion of human rights violations, which lists "red-tagging, trolling (and) extrajudicial killings" as examples.
The explicit identification of red-tagging, trolling and extrajudicial killings as acts that violate human rights is part of the new draft DepEd curriculum for basic education released for public review last week.
The current K to 12 curriculum only includes a general mention of human rights violations but does not state any examples.
DepEd last week made released to the public its proposed curriculum guides for Araling Panlipunan and other subjects, as part of its revision of the current K-10 (Kinder to Grade 10) curriculum.
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Human rights protection as a learning competency
In the draft curriculum for Araling Panlipunan, students will learn about human rights in the fourth quarter of Grade 10.
According to DepEd’s learning competencies for the topics, students are expected to learn how to "analyze the value of protecting and caring for human rights" in response to social issues.
The draft curriculum also includes topics on the organizations or groups that protect human rights — the expected learning outcome of which help students "value their role" in society.
Besides the explicit mention of red-tagging in the human rights component of Araling Panlipunan, another feature in the draft curriculum is the introduction of the West Philippine Sea and the Philippines’ legal victory over China regarding maritime disputes in the third quarter of Grade 10.
RELATED: New in DepEd draft curriculum: Lessons on West Philippine Sea, Hague ruling
The draft Araling Panlipunan curriculum also covers lessons on voter's education, gender and sexuality issues, and climate change.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers – the country’s largest organization of teachers — recently lodged a complaint before the International Labor Organization to report Duterte’s alleged red-tagging remarks that accuse the group of supporting the Communist Party of the Philippines.
DepEd, however, said in a press conference with the government’s anti-communist task force that teachers can join any organization, adding however that it will "not condone teachers who will condone or engage in criminal activities."
DepEd’s review of the K-10 curriculum started last year with the goal of decongesting the number of lessons included in all subject areas.
DepEd will accept comments and suggestions from the public on the new K to 10 curriculum until May 3.
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