By Stephanie Sevillano | Philippine News Agency
The rollout of the Reframed General Education (GE) curriculum will be pushed back in 2028, according to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
This comes following the concerns raised by education stakeholders and higher education institutions (HEIs) on the proposed reduction of 36 GE units to 18 or 21; and the integration of some subjects like ethics, philosophy, arts, literature and Philippine history, among others.
In a hybrid press conference Wednesday night, CHED Chairperson Shirley Agrupis said the agency will further strengthen consultations with HEIs nationwide to ensure a quality review.
“We came to a decision that there will be no GE implementation across all programs this school year,” she said.
“The target of this will be 2028, so that this will give us time to study and then listen more to the different stakeholders.”
The CHED said it is also looking into concerns on the potential faculty displacements, meeting the emerging changes in industry demands, and the autonomy of schools.
“Based on the result of the consultation, parang ang assessment nila, ‘yung 18 units reframed curriculum is that they are like being put into a box that they do not have the freedom to expand,” Agrupis said.
“In fact, there is this Catholic Education Association, CEAC, they want it more flexible because it should not be a one-size-fits-all reframed curriculum because each institution has its own institutional direction or expertise.”
Agrupis assured of a data-driven approach to gather all necessary input for the finalization of the curriculum.
“We already developed a system for online feedback. And to date, there are about 255 HEIs who have responded already with all those many questions participating from 17 regions,” she said.
The CHED has also received 15 position papers from organizations like the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), which represents 352 HEIs, other professional organizations, universities and individuals.
Although a pilot rollout is possible before 2028, the CHED chief said it still depends on the review of the interagency technical working group.
“This is to give us time, especially the technical panel and education, the Department of Education, to analyze and study the different manifestations well, because we understand where they are coming from,” Agrupis said.
Interested parties may still send their position papers and comments to CHED until June.
