Go back to basics, Marcos tells DepEd

LEARNING CAMP Pupils of Rafael Palma Elementary School in Manila take part in a skills improvement camp. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

There might be a “little bit” of a policy shift at the Department of Education (DepEd) after President Marcos told incoming Education Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara to again teach Philippine history to Filipino students and ensure that learners “understand the basics.”

The President also directed Angara, who is set to assume the top DepEd post on July 19, to take care of teachers through better benefits and wages and constant retraining to keep them at par with international standards.

READ: Angara named as new DepEd chief

In an interview with reporters in Patikul, Sulu, Mr. Marcos said he already met with the incoming DepEd chief and raised several concerns to him.

The Chief Executive said there may be “a little bit” of a policy shift to address the performance of Filipino students in international assessments and their employability upon graduation.

“DepEd has so many aspects to it. The one thing I asked of him was to please teach our children Philippine history,” he said.

The President said he saw his children’s past workbooks when they were younger and lamented that “there’s very little said about the history of the Philippines.”

“That is so important, for the simple reason that it will make them understand what it means to be a Filipino. This is what our people went through, this is why we act this way because of our history. That’s the one thing I asked of him, that’s in the curriculum,” he said.

His remarks came amid repeated calls for the government to restore Philippine history as a standalone subject in the basic education curriculum.

No history subjects

Philippine history was removed as an independent subject in high school and is taught only in Grades 5 and 6 and in college.

Critics previously pointed out that students’ weak grasp of the country’s history in high school also hindered efforts in college to engage students in critical discussions and analysis of the past.

Mr. Marcos added that the DepEd, under Angara’s leadership, will “simplify” the basic education curriculum or the K-12 program.

READ: New expectations for DepEd 

“We go back to make sure that everybody understands the basics. There are many students in Grade 5 and Grade 6 who still have difficulty reading and understanding what they read. They cannot solve simple mathematics problems. We must go back to the basics. That’s what we will do,” the President said.

He also reminded Angara to “take care of the teachers financially” as they are the “key to any successful program in the DepEd.

“They cannot teach properly if they are thinking about their family, so we have to make sure that they are in a good place so that the teachers can concentrate on actual teaching,” he said.

Retraining teachers

“The other part of it is nonfinancial, the retraining. We all know development and technology moves so fast, things are obsolete in two years. We have to teach them again. That’s what we will do, we will beef up that part of it,” he said.

The President earlier picked Angara to succeed Vice President Sara Duterte at the DepEd once Duterte’s resignation took effect on July 19.

Citing the need to improve the employability of K-12 graduates, the President raised the possibility of offering specialty short courses that last from three months to a year to reskill and upskill them.

He said the government still has to coordinate with the private sector regarding the offering of mini-courses for livelihood opportunities to ensure that jobs will be available for graduates.

The President added that the DepEd should improve the ratings of Filipino students in global learning assessments, especially in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics subjects.