ALTHOUGH THE Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has postponed the pilot implementation of its reframed General Education (GE) curriculum, the Arts and Letters Faculty Association (ALFA) cited the need to be vigilant and to ensure that teachers are involved in the crafting of policies.
CHED Chairperson Shirley Agrupis announced the deferment of a proposed curriculum that seeks to reduce the minimum GE curriculum to 18 units last May 13, saying more time is needed to look into the concerns raised by stakeholders.
ALFA president and UST Faculty Union (USTFU) incoming executive vice president Assoc. Prof. Rene Luis Tadle said the suspension should not be treated as the end of the issue.
“We welcome CHED’s suspension of the GE reform as proof that when teachers organize, policy moves. But this should not be treated as the end of the issue. The deeper lesson is clear: education reform cannot be decided for teachers without teachers,” Tadle told The Flame.
Tadle, who teaches Philosophy courses in UST, argued that faculty members should be directly involved in discussions before reforms are actually finalized.
“CHED’s deferment shows that teachers can no longer be treated as an afterthought in education policy…Organized teachers—especially private school teachers—must have actual seats at the table, not mere invitations after decisions have already been made,” he added
Tadle, also the president of the Council of Teachers & Staff of Colleges and Universities of the Philippines (CoTeSCUP), said broader education reform efforts under the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) must also confront longstanding issues faced by teachers, including wages, job security and working conditions.
Educators from private institutions should no longer be sidelined in reforms that directly shape their profession, he added.
According to CHED, the reform aims to make the curriculum more flexible, avoid duplication with senior high school lessons and align higher education with workforce demands. The pilot implementation of the curriculum was initially set for the academic year 2026-2027 while the full rollout was supposed to take place a year after.
Higher education institutions and teacher organizations have assailed the proposed curriculum overhaul, saying it lacked sufficient consultation and even threatened faculty employment, academic breadth and the role of humanities and social sciences in tertiary education.
The backlash prompted discussions in the Senate, with Senator Robin Padilla delivering a privilege speech on May 6 to criticize what he deemed a reduction of Philippine history to “bullet points.”
Aside from removing core subjects such as Art Appreciation, Mathematics in the Modern World and Understanding the Self, the proposal will also merge history-related courses into a single 3-unit Rizal and Philippine Studies subject.
“The lack of a dedicated and separate subject in Philippine History in high school not only weakens students’ understanding of important historical events, but also hinders college teachers from promoting deeper and critical discussions,” Padilla said.
On May 11, CoTeSCUP representatives, professors from the University’s History department and other members of the academe were invited to the Senate to submit position papers on the reframing.
However, the scheduled discussion was halted by the sudden political ruckus at the Senate compound, triggered by the reappearance of Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa after a six-month absence and the attempt to arrest him for alleged crimes against humanity.
The educators groups opted to submit their papers to the CHED at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus the following day.
CHED later said it had received 256 position papers from universities, faculty groups and academic organizations as of May 15 and that it would be accepting submissions until June 15.
Among the stakeholders that submitted were the Psychological Association of the Philippines, headed by Artlets Assistant Dean Assoc. Prof. John Manuel Kliatchko, CoTeSCUP, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Philippines (ACT), and liberal arts departments from various universities.
ACT’s position paper, which has reportedly garnered over 1,000 signatures from academics and writers, demanded that CHED discard the proposed curriculum, citing its potential harm to quality education and the displacement of an estimated 60,000 to 90,000 faculty members. The national teachers’ organization also argued that the reform should be discarded, as no formal assessment of the current GE curriculum has taken place.
Also in attendance during the May 11 Senate session was former CHED chairperson J. Prospero “Popoy” de Vera III, who shared the same concerns about a lack of research into the currently implemented curriculum.
“We also have not studied the current GE. How was it implemented? What are the problems? Because there are components of the current GE that were not in the GE before, like ethics,” de Vera told reporters.
“So now, what is the basis to say that we’re going to reduce it some more? ‘Right? What’s that just because you said, ‘just because I said?’ We can debate but at the end of the day it must be based on data, it must be based on facts.” F – Mikaela Angela Villacorta and Bai Jehann Maharaynie Paz
