The UST Arts and Letters Faculty Association (ALFA) assailed the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) proposal to overhaul the general education (GE) curriculum, saying the removal of humanities subjects reduces tertiary education to “mere job training.”
On Friday, May 1, CHED released a draft memorandum order (CMO) that seeks to downsize the minimum units of the curriculum from 36 to 18 to remove content duplication between Senior High School and college GE courses.
In a statement posted on Facebook, ALFA warned that the “seemingly progressive proposal” focuses on producing “market-ready” graduates that, while technically proficient, lack the critical faculties to engage meaningfully in society.
“The proposed GE framework, however, seems to prioritize a narrow set of competencies, sidelining essential disciplines like philosophy, literature, history and the arts. This reductionist approach strips away the richness of a well-rounded education and diminishes our students’ ability to engage thoughtfully with the world around them,” the group said on Monday, May 4.
“Its (proposal) underlying implications pose a grave threat to the essence of higher education in our institutions. At the heart of education lies the pursuit of knowledge that transcends mere job training.”
The draft was largely shaped by the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), which flagged major problems, including misalignments, gaps and redundancies in the current GE curriculum.
Under CMO 20 released in 2013, all institutions are required to have a minimum of 24 units for GE core courses, nine units for electives, and a three-unit Rizal course.
The proposed curriculum cuts this to 18 units, leaving only five mandatory core subjects and one institutional GE course, all worth three units.
The core subjects are Professional Communication; Labor Education; Data, Evidence, and Ethics in a Knowledge Society; Global Trends and Emerging Technologies; and Rizal and Philippine Studies.
Meanwhile, the institutional GE course must reflect the school’s own identity and mission.
ALFA raised concerns about academic freedom and accused CHED of encroaching on the autonomy of universities to shape their educational offerings.
The UST Faculty Union (USTFU) expressed its support for ALFA’s stance and vowed to join efforts to challenge policies seeking to undermine the quality of Philippine higher education.
“The University of Santo Tomas has long been a bastion of the Liberal Arts. To dilute our General Education program is to dilute the identity of the University itself,” USTFU said in a statement on Tuesday, May 5.
CHED’s invitation to an online public hearing on the reframed GE curriculum also drew criticisms.
UST Creative Writing chair Prof. Joselito delos Reyes questioned what he deemed to be a “rigid and deaf” system that resorts to curriculum change before addressing other pressing issues.
“Bakit hindi dagdag na budget at imprastraktura? Bakit hindi pagpapagaan sa trabaho ng guro? Bakit hindi makinig sa mga nasa ibaba? Bakit rigid at bingi ang sistema sa puna at opinyon? Bakit hindi pagtutok sa mga batayang suliranin?” Reyes said in a Facebook post.
(Why not more budget and infrastructure? Why not lighten the workload of teachers? Why not listen to those at the bottom? Why is the system rigid and deaf to feedback and opinions? Why not focus on the fundamental problems?)
Reframed curriculum
The proposed curriculum removes the subjects Understanding the Self, Mathematics in the Modern World, and Art Appreciation from the mandatory core units.
Meanwhile, the Readings in Philippine History course appears to have been merged into the new Rizal and Philippine Studies. Both the Contemporary World and Science, Technology and Society subjects seem to be absorbed into the proposed Global Trends and Emerging Technologies course, based on their descriptions.
Professional Communication will replace Purposive Communication, and Ethics will no longer be delivered as a standalone course, but will instead be embedded across all courses.
ALFA also warned of the curriculum’s impact on job security, especially for those in the humanities and social sciences.
“It [drafted curriculum] jeopardizes the livelihoods of faculty members, particularly those in the humanities and social sciences. The restructuring may lead to job losses, reassignment away from areas of expertise, or increased job insecurity — not due to any shortcomings in teaching, but because of a top-down approach that disregards the voices of those most affected,” it said.
Also among the proposed policies is a master’s degree as a minimum qualification for faculty members in the relevant discipline they intend to teach.
Academic staff who will take on the labor education course must have a master’s degree in related fields, as well as professional certification, training or experience in labor relations or law.
ALFA also accused EDCOM II of developing its recommendations without any “meaningful engagement” with the educators and stakeholders who are most impacted. The group said the lack of consultation mimics “past mistakes” and called on the USTFU to take a “proactive” stance in challenging the proposal.
ALFA and USTFU urged the University administration to boldly assert its institutional autonomy and to stand with its faculty members in scrutinizing the document.
While all tertiary institutions must comply with the minimum 18 units, those with autonomous status may retain up to a maximum of 36 units, provided that the additional courses are not specialized and remain feasible for students.
UST currently holds an autonomous status under CHED, which will remain in effect until September 2027.
The draft CMO is set for pilot implementation in select higher education institutions by academic year 2026-2027, with its full rollout targeted for the succeeding year. F
