(UPDATE) PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday directed incoming Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara to include more Philippine history in the curriculum.
“The one thing I asked from him was to: Please teach our children Philippine history. Because I have seen my children’s workbooks and there’s very little said about the history of the Philippines,” Marcos told reporters during aid distribution in Sulu.
“And that for me, that is so important for a very simple reason… the reason we are behaving like this is because of our history. And that’s the one thing I asked of him, that’s in the curriculum,” he added.
Philippine History was removed as a Grade 6 subject during the time of former education secretary Leonor Briones.
It was replaced by Asian History in Grade 7, World History in Grade 8, Economics in Grade 9, and Contemporary Issues in Grade 10.
The President said the goal is to “make sure that everybody understands the basics,” adding that the K–12 curriculum failed to boost the employability of high school graduates.
“If we look at the result, their employability did not increase or improve, so we have to do something else,” Marcos said, noting he was looking at the inclusion of short courses that would allow students to have specializations.
He said the Department of Education should improve the quality of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) lessons based on the country’s dismal performance in international objective tests.
A study by the Program for International Student Assessment showed that Filipino students registered the lowest scores in reading, math and science.
Marcos told Angara to prioritize the retraining of teachers, considering the current fast-paced technology development.
The effort, he said, includes ensuring that they are financially taken care of.
“Of course financial, to make sure that they can feed their families, we tend to forget sometimes that teachers have families. We see them just as teachers. They have families, they have to take care of their family, and 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 added.
An official of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom 2) welcomed Angara’s appointment as DepEd chief.
“I think it’s best for Edcom to have someone in the executive department to listen to us, to hopefully implement some of our recommendations, and also to work closely with them. I am very excited to work with our new Secretary, Sec. Sonny Angara, and the whole Edcom family, the whole Edcom machinery is behind you. Congratulations,” Edcom 2 co-chairman and Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said during a dinner celebrating Angara’s appointment.
Angara served as Edcom 2 commissioner.
Dr. Vincent Fabella of Edcom 2 Subcommittee on Governance and Finance said Angara is in a best position to make education a truly transformative tool.
The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines has sent its congratulatory message to Angara.
“We are confident that Senator Angara will lead the Department of Education with integrity, compassion, and innovation. His leadership will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in addressing the current challenges faced by the education sector in our country,” it said in a statement.
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