CEBU, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) has extended until May 13 the public review of the draft revised curriculum for kindergarten to Grade 10.
A few days after the original deadline for public feedback ended on May 3, the DepEd on Friday said it has already received feedback from 4,843 respondents.
These were composed of 4,499 individuals and 344 organizations, including sectoral groups, professional associations, government agencies, private schools associations, higher education institutions and non-governmental organizations.
“The extension of the public review intends to provide enough time for interested stakeholders to give their feedback on the shaping papers and draft curriculum guides for the Language and Literacy, and Reading learning areas,” it said.
The shaping papers and the draft revised curriculum guides may be accessed at https://bit.ly/CGandShapingPaperPublicReview, while feedback may be submitted through the online survey form at https://bit.ly/Kto10CG.
The DepEd released the draft shaping papers and curriculum guides last month as part of its extensive review of the K-12 program.
While the review of the senior high school program is still ongoing, the drafts that were released already included proposed revisions in kindergarten to Grade 10.
In the draft general shaping paper, the DepEd identified congestion as a primary issue in the basic education curriculum.
“While a significant number of prerequisites are explicitly articulated, others were implicit or misplaced, and thus, need to be addressed. Corollary to the said findings are recommendations to further decongest the curriculum,” read the paper.
“Results show that only a few teachers reported having adequate time to teach all learning competencies. The percentage varies by learning area, grade level, and quarter, but typically fewer than 20 percent of teachers reported having adequate time to teach all the learning competencies assigned to a quarter,” it added.
In some learning areas, the DepEd noted, almost half of the teachers did not have sufficient time to teach even half the number of learning competencies.
“This supports the recommendation in the review of the intended curriculum that the number of learning competencies be reconsidered in order to ensure that all learning competencies can be taught with the required cognitive depth in the time available in schools,” it added.
Some key proposals include a redesigned kindergarten curriculum, merging of Araling Panlipunan and Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health and the removal of a separate mother tongue subject in Grades 1 to 3, and the incorporation of the engineering design process in various learning areas.
“The 2022 Basic Education Curriculum addresses the need to complement the knowledge and skills development of learners with values development – making the curriculum more holistic as it strikes a balance between competence and character,” read the draft paper.
“Aside from providing a separate learning area for values formation… there is a systematic integration of DepEd core values across all learning areas with explicit placements in relevant topics and contents in all grade levels. These are further reinforced by other non-curricular programs and activities in school,” it added.
Advocacy group Philippine Business for Education has welcomed DepEd’s move to release the draft revised curriculum for public feedback.
“This collaborative and consultative approach will help ensure that the revised curriculum aligns with the current needs of the learners and the industry and hopefully address current educational gaps and challenges,” PBEd said, in a statement sent to The STAR.
“By sharing updates and seeking feedback from various stakeholders, including educators, students and employers, DepEd affirms its commitment to creating a more relevant and responsive educational system that can equip learners with the knowledge, skills and values needed to succeed in the changing world of work,” it added. — Philippine Star News Service (FREEMAN)