Matatag curriculum pilot ‘exhausting’ teachers, groups say

MANILA, Philippines – Some teachers’ groups noted in a forum on Friday that the pilot implementation of the revised Matatag K-10 curriculum was “leading to additional stress and exhaustion.”

“While the Matatag curriculum is designed to improve foundational skills, the piloting has led to increased workload for teachers,” Serafin Molina of the Teachers and Employees Association for Change, Education Reforms and Solidarity Inc. said.

The Department of Education (DepEd) previously mandated that all learning areas be taught for 45 minutes a day for five days. It has since allowed schools to instead allocate 50, 55, or 60 minutes five times a week per learning area.

READ: Schools given more flexibility for ‘Matatag’ curriculum

“We are not robots. We are human beings who get tired,” Molina added.

The groups said issues have persisted with the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, which includes protections on their working hours, adding that the law had “lost its potency” due to “lack of awareness and corrupt practices.”

Furthermore, Edelwisa Puri from the Action and Solidarity for the Empowerment of Teachers said, “Without political will and proper enforcement, this once-noble law will continue to fail teachers.”

Introduced in 2023 by then-Education Secretary Sara Duterte, the Matatag curriculum revised the foundational skills for Kindergarten to Grade 10, reducing them from seven to five: Language, Reading and Literacy, Mathematics, Makabansa, and Good Manners and Right Conduct.

READ: DepEd launches recalibrated K to 10 curriculum, to start in SY 2024-2025

Secretary Sonny Angara, when he succeeded Duterte after her resignation last July, said he does not plan on changing the program to achieve stability in the curriculum.