Gov’t told to stop enforcing Matatag curriculum as new school year starts
THE GOVERNMENT of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. Should scrap the so-called Matatag curriculum started by Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio to avoid overburdening public school teachers, according to a lawmaker.
“The Matatag curriculum in its current form is poised to overwhelm our already overburdened teachers with an unsustainable workload,” Party-list Rep. France L. Castro said in a statement on Monday. “We cannot, in good conscience, implement a system that threatens to compromise the quality of education and the well-being of our educators.”
The curriculum, which Ms. Duterte-Carpio as Education secretary introduced in August 2023, covers kindergarten, grades 1, 4 and 7 and adds subjects to improve reading, math and life skills. It will be enforced in phases starting this school year.
It will be fully implemented by 2026-2027.
Ms. Duterte-Carpio has since resigned from the Cabinet amid a growing political rift between the Marcoses and her family.
Implementing the curriculum change despite a shortage in classrooms and learning materials, exacerbated by the effects of Super Typhoon Carina, is not feasible, Ms. Castro said.
“Our teachers are being asked to do more with less,” she said. “They’re expected to adapt to this new curriculum while simultaneously addressing learning gaps from the pandemic and coping with inadequate resources.
Many schools have not received adequate training, yet they’re being ordered to adhere to the Matatag time allotment in class schedules, Ms. Castro said. “This rushed implementation is a recipe for chaos and confusion in our classrooms.”
Changes in the curriculum should only be considered if the Education department has resolved issues in school funding and lack of educational resources, the lawmaker said.
“Let’s focus on addressing the fundamental issues plaguing our education system: insufficient funding, lack of resources and the need for better support for our educators.”
The Philippines on Monday started a new school year for elementary and high school students, days after it was hit by Super Typhoon Carina and monsoon rains that flooded the capital region and many Luzon provinces.
A thousand schools had to postpone their opening, with many of them still being used as temporary evacuation centers.
The Department of Education in a statement said 842 schools in five regions including 225 in Metro Manila postponed their opening.
It said 452 schools in Central Luzon and 95 in the Ilocos region deferred the opening classes. Sixty-six schools in Calabarzon and four schools in Soccsksargen also postponed classes.
In a separate statement, the agency said the number of enrollees fell to 19.87 million from 27.3 million a year earlier and against a 27.7-million target.
Of the total, 2.81 million students were in Calabarzon, followed by Central Luzon with 2.22 million and Metro Manila with 2.19 million.
The Philippine National Police said it had deployed more than 33,000 cops to secure the opening of classes.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos. Jr. last week said the July 29 opening of classes should proceed. “We will look for ways to conduct classes regardless of the circumstance.”
Metro Manila and nearby provinces were still reeling from the combined effects of Carina and the southwest monsoon, with the death toll rising to 36 as of Monday.
Fourteen of the 36 deaths have been validated, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said in a statement. There were five deaths in Calabarzon, four in the Zamboanga Peninsula, two in Central Luzon and one each in Northern Mindanao, the Davao Region and Bangsamoro region.
It said 22 reported deaths were still up for validation including 15 in Metro Manila, five in Calabarzon and one each in the Ilocos region and Bangsamoro region.
The super typhoon and the monsoon affected 4.55 million people from 1.24 million families, the disaster agency said, adding that 152,800 people from 38,292 families were still staying in evacuation centers.
It said 39 areas still had no electricity.
Damage to infrastructure hit P1.69 billion, the agency said. Damage to agriculture hit P355.604 million, while damage to irrigation facilities reached P6.56 million.
The agency said 1,598 houses had been damaged. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio and Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza