Curriculum Summit

Next week, I will host a Curriculum Summit. So far, several key government officials and university presidents have accepted my invitation. If the Summit is successful, I intend to host similar discussions in the future about the curriculum.  DepEd, CHED, and other government agencies are implementing various reforms in our educational system, but most of these reforms have little to do with the curriculum. In fact, although it has a fairly comprehensive list of the things that government must do if our educational system were to catch up with the rest of the world, the Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda (BESRA) does not focus on curriculum.

To me, however, the curriculum is much more important than any of the other things DepEd has to think about. What is the point of having enough classrooms, desks, teachers, and textbooks, if what is being taught and learned does not help the students, the country, and the world? For example, what is going to be taught in the two years that President Aquino promised to add to the basic education cycle? As Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, S.J., head of the Presidential Task Force on Education, says (in the few minutes that she was with Aquino during the ride to Quirino Grandstand, Arroyo thought only of endorsing the report of this task force), two more years of bad education will not make a difference.

Why am I convening a summit when I am a former, not a current, government official? Because I believe that Aquino hit the nail on the head. In his inaugural speech, he said that we should not give up working for a better country now that we have kicked out Gloria, the main reason it is in such terrible shape. As he said in Filipino, “Are you going to quit now that we have won?” This is part of the letter I wrote my friends (top DepEd, CHED, and TESDA officials, as well as university presidents) to invite them to the Curriculum Summit:

Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III was elected on a platform of transparency and consultation, with a campaign machinery made up almost completely of volunteers.

We now need to volunteer our help in fleshing out his plan to add two years to the basic education cycle, particularly as it impacts on the curriculum from pre-school to postgraduate studies. Because curriculum development takes years of planning and implementation, it is important to start the process as soon as we can.

On my own initiative and without the knowledge or consent of President Aquino, I am convening a Curriculum Summit (actually, a meeting of friends concerned about education).

The objectives of the summit are:

(1) To start the public discussion about the curriculum,

(2) To get the best minds in the country to help solve problems that DepEd and CHED should not have to face alone, and

(3) To bring past, present, and future education officials together to help plan the transition to a 12-year basic education cycle.

Some of the specific issues we need to think about are:

(1) Where in the basic education cycle should the two years be added?

(2) What should be the curriculum (scope, minimum learning competencies, teacher qualifications, etc.) of the two years?

(3) If high school students will be divided into two streams (college-bound and vocational-technical), where in the cycle should the division be effected? What test, if any, will determine a student’s stream?

(4) What would be the scope and specifications of the College Admission Test or Scholastic Achievement/Aptitude Test, if there will be one after high school?

(5) How will the General Education Curriculum (GEC) of the tertiary level be affected by the expansion of basic education?

(6) Should there still be a GEC in college? Should we follow the European model of only three or more years of major subjects in college? Should we follow the American model of only one year of GEC in college?

(7) Should Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) be given the academic freedom to decide for themselves if they want a GEC?

(8) Would the curriculum be rationalized if the laws (Republic Acts No. 7722 and 7796) establishing the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Techical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) were repealed and we returned to a monolithic Department of [All] Education?

(9) Should the 12-year basic education cycle be mandated also for private schools?

Although I have convened several national and international conferences before, this is the first time I am organizing something completely on my own and not on behalf of the government, a professional association, or a school. Fortunately, I have made many friends inside and outside government. Like me, my friends want to do something very quickly to help our educational system rise from being, if we were to believe international tests and rankings, one of the worst in the world.

Aquino and his Cabinet cannot save Philippine education by themselves. We all have to help out in any way we can, whether we are in a position of authority or not, whether we are paid or not, whether we have time or not, whether we are in the government or not. The Filipino youth deserve nothing less.