Senate OKs bill requiring GMRC subject in elementary, senior high

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading a bill requiring elementary and high school students to take a mandatory Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) subject under the K to 12 curricula.

Senate Bill No. 1224 or the Comprehensive Values Education Act seeks to institutionalize values education, including GMRC, as a core subject in the K to 12 programs.

Under the measure, values education, including GMRC, will be taught to elementary and senior high school students daily for one hour.

For kindergarten students, values education shall be integrated into their daily learning activities.

GMRC was earlier removed as a regular subject and was integrated with other subjects, including Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao and Araling Panlipunan under the K to 12 curricula.

Under the said curriculum, values education is taught for 30 minutes per day in primary education and for an hour twice a week in secondary education.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, a sponsor of the bill, earlier said the amount of time allotted to values education has been found to be inadequate.

He pointed out the current 30 minutes does not provide enough time for teachers to engage students in meaningful discussions and exercises on values formation.

Gatchalian said that under the bill, values education curriculum is mandated to provide clear, distinct, specific and concrete character-building activities such as role-playing in the classroom, community immersion activities, teacher-parent collaborative learning activities, the school initiated values formation activities, simulated activities and other forms of experiential learning activities.

“This will allow students to gain real-life experiences in applying their values to difficult situations, but in a controlled environment where experienced educators will help them process the lessons they learned in a constructive and nurturing way,” Gatchalian said.

The bill also aims to make the subject more accessible and user-friendly to students seeking a mother tongue-based multilingual education approach to be adopted in teaching values education.

The measure would mandate mandates the Department of Education (DepEd), in coordination with the Commission on Filipino Language and in collaboration with education academic and research institutions to formulate a mother tongue-based multilingual framework for teaching and learning, according to Gatchalian.

Teachers with certification, diploma, and training in the field of values education and other allied disciplines shall be given preference in the teaching of the subject, he added.

During the previous hearing into the measure, educators noted that 70 to 90 percent of those who teach values education are not certified values education teachers.

“DepEd shall conduct an annual review of the institutionalization of comprehensive values education in the K to 12 program curriculum to ensure its proper implementation and assess student learning outcomes for the purpose of determining its efficacy,” the bill stated.

“The DepEd shall also establish linkages and provide the necessary support to strengthen parent-teacher partnerships to enable parents to perform their vital role in the effective institutionalization of the values formation education,” it added.

Edited by KGA