DepEd eyes review of learning competencies in K-12 program

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday announced that it was eyeing a gradual review of the country’s “congested” learning competencies in the K-12 curriculum in a bid to equip learners with the necessary skills for future employment.

The “2022 version” of the current basic education curriculum may be released by the end of 2021 and applied next year, said Diosdado San Antonio, education undersecretary for curriculum and instruction.

“What was very obvious was the congestion of competencies. We have to come up with a set of learning competencies that will not be congested, but skills that the children need to become independent learners in the future,” he said at a virtual press conference.

The DepEd recognized that the current K-12 curriculum was among its major concerns in the agency’s implementation of the blended learning delivery modality in school year 2020-2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.‘Areas for improvement’

According to San Antonio, the DepEd is now processing curriculum-shaping documents that will allow the agency to refine what have been found as “areas for improvement” in its curriculum review initiative.

The current structure of basic education demands the agency to decongest the curriculum and relieve students of overwhelming requirements in all of their subjects, he said.

In March, the DepEd said it had already reduced the more than 15,000 learning competencies in the so-called traditional learning curriculum to less than 10 per quarter on every grade level.

“We have committed to Education Secretary Leonor Briones that the shape of the enhanced version, the 2022 version of the K-12 curriculum, will be ready before the end of this year. We will be having consultations with appropriate bodies so that the voices of everybody will be heard,” San Antonio said.

The DepEd’s curriculum and instruction office will first review the curriculum in Kindergarten and Grades 1 to 3, San Antonio said.

Last month, the Philippine Business for Education urged the DepEd to ensure the employability of K-12 students and stressed that this year’s graduates would be entering “a much more uncertain market due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Briones acknowledged this uncertainty and clarified that the agency was focusing on developing the critical thinking and analysis skills of K-12 students to better equip them for future employment. INQ