House leader to DepEd: Review time allotment per subject

MANILA – A House leader on Tuesday urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to review the recalibrated time allotment per subject under the "Matatag" curriculum as it reportedly increased teaching workload.

During the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing, Basic Education committee chairperson Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo said the implementation of the new curriculum entails teaching subjects daily or five times a week.

Under DepEd Order (DO) No. 10, which covers the implementation of the Matatag curriculum, learning areas such as Filipino, English, Mathematics, Science and Araling Panlipunan shall have an allotment of 45 minutes each, five times a week, for Grades 4 to 6.

Meanwhile, Grades 1 to 3 would have time allotments ranging from 40 to 45 minutes daily for subjects like Filipino, English, Mathematics, Makabansa and Science, among others.

"Hihingin natin sa DepEd na pag-aralan muli iyong requirement nila na bawat subject ay araw-araw dapat ituro…Kahit tayo noong dumaan tayo ng elementary hanggang high school, hindi naman kailangang araw-araw ituro ang bawat subject (We will request DepEd to revisit its requirement to teach subjects daily…During our time from elementary to high school, it wasn't necessary to teach each subject every day)," he said.

He said the recalibrated time allotment would give teachers physical, mental and emotional stress.

Before the Matatag curriculum, the subjects were not taught daily, Romulo said.

Aside from the time allotment per subject, Romulo said the DepEd should also look into the workload of teachers, particularly double shifting for morning and afternoon classes.

He said the curriculum extends the teachers' stay in school due to double shifting.

"Pangalawa, kung teacher po na may particular subject – sa umaga nandodoon siya, hapon nandodoon ulit siya, dapat ma-take into account naman na hindi naman dapat sumobra ng eight hours iyong pag-i-stay din niya sa isang paaralan because baka lumabag din po iyon sa magna carta (Secondly, if a teacher has a particular subject – for the morning and afternoon shifts – that should be taken into account so that the teacher would not go beyond eight hours in school because it would violate the magna carta [for public school teachers])," he said.

Matatag stands for Make the curriculum relevant to produce job-ready, Active and responsible citizens; TAke steps to accelerate the delivery of basic education services and provision facilities; TAke good care of learners by promoting learner well-being, inclusiveness learning, and positive learning environment; and, Give support for teachers to teach better. (PNA)