{"id":8257,"date":"2019-06-24T14:33:43","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T06:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/?p=8257"},"modified":"2020-05-26T11:13:03","modified_gmt":"2020-05-26T03:13:03","slug":"strengthen-filipino-panitikan-and-constitution-instruction-in-basic-and-tertiary-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/strengthen-filipino-panitikan-and-constitution-instruction-in-basic-and-tertiary-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Strengthen Filipino, Panitikan, and Constitution instruction in basic and tertiary education"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\nSupreme Court\u2019s (SC) upholding of the removal of Filipino, Panitikan<\/em> (literature), and Constitution as core subjects of the\ncollege curriculum is the latest assault of neoliberal standards on the\nPhilippine education system. Alongside the K to 12 curriculum at primary and\nsecondary levels, the fundamentals of nationalism, patriotism and constitutionalism\nare being replaced by market criteria of corporate and foreign employability,\nefficiency and profitability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nurgently brings the debate back to the call for the K to 12 curriculum to be\nscrapped altogether due to its impact on public education serving only foreign\neconomic interests and the need for an alternative curriculum that will shape\ncritical, patriotic, and progressive nation builders who will lead the\nPhilippines out of the neocolonial and market-oriented quagmire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\nglobal competitiveness?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nSC argues that Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Memorandum 20 only sets\nthe minimum standards for the general education component of all degree\nprograms, and does not limit the academic freedom of universities and colleges\nto require additional courses in Filipino, Panitikan and the Constitution. But\nthis actually negates the 1987 Constitution, which stipulates that the State\nshould be setting the standards. The study of Filipino, Panitikan and the\nConstitution best tackles the mandate of the State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nPhilippine Charter\u2019s Article XIV, Section 3 stipulates that \u201call educational\ninstitutions shall include the study of the Constitution as part of the\ncurricula\u201d. It adds that these institutions shall inculcate values including\npatriotism and nationalism, love of humanity, respect for human rights,\nappreciation of the role of national heroes in the historical development of\nthe country, embracing the rights and duties of citizenship, strengthening\nethical and spiritual values, developing moral character and personal\ndiscipline, critical and creative thinking, scientific and technological\nknowledge, and vocational efficiency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without\na CHED requirement, universities and colleges may easily drop Filipino,\nPanitikan, the Constitution, and even History, which can hone the\nabove-mentioned values in progression from the basic to the tertiary level. But\nwith the pretext of supposedly employing Filipinos but practically deploying\ncheap labor to foreign companies and institutions, these subjects lose equal\nimportance to Science, English and Math. Neoliberal education has championed\nthe latter subjects as the necessary learning areas to arm students with \u201c21st\ncentury skills\u201d to achieve \u201cglobal competitiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nis missed out is the holistic goal of education, in which all aspects of learning\nfrom scientific and mathematical, to language and humanities are developed to\nadvance the society \u2013 people and economy \u2013 to a better context. The young\nlearner must be nurtured as a human being and a citizen, part of an\never-changing community and society. Filipino, Panitikan, the Constitution and\nHistory are critically important subjects in building young Filipino learners’\nhumane consciousness with as much critical thinking and social commitment to\ntheir nation and its sovereign development as well as to the entire world and\nits brighter future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\nnational development<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nthe objective is to produce generations of Filipinos that will work locally to\nbuild and strengthen the Philippine economy, then a nationalist mindset in\neducation is all the more needed. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and\nMathematics) subjects can also be taught in Filipino to better locate\ntheir  significance and applicability in\nthe local context and towards national development. English proficiency must be\nplaced within the context of general language proficiency to help young\nlearners connect with other cultures and nations towards greater understanding\nand solidarity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panitikan\nprovides students with an understanding of the literary traditions of the\nFilipino people, being vessels of our values and aspirations that are precisely\nsocial foundations for any nation-building objective. The Constitution enables\nstudents to remember and embrace their basic rights as a people, and the basic\nprinciples by which our society has been organized. Minimizing the teaching of\nFilipino, Panitikan and Constitution thus robs young learners of their soul as\ncitizens and future leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rendering\nsecond class status to Philippine history in 2014 likewise took away from high\nschool students the opportunity to more deeply embrace their Filipino roots and\nto draw lessons from the nation\u2019s past and continuing struggles. By virtue of\nDepartment of Education Order No. 20, S. 2014, the subject was removed from the\nsecondary education curriculum in favor of Araling\nAsyano<\/em> (Asian Studies).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the short-term, the recent SC decision makes it more urgent to amplify the call for a strengthening of instruction and research on these subjects in universities and colleges.  But in the long-term, Filipino educators along with parents and students must call for the scrapping of the K to 12 curriculum and work for the reversal not only of the market-orientation of education but of all neoliberal economic reforms. These need to be replaced with a nationalist, progressive curriculum truly supportive of a genuine pro-people development program. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY JOHN PAUL ANDAQUIG<\/p>\n

Panitikan provides students with an understanding of the literary traditions of the Filipino people. Minimizing the teaching of Filipino, Panitikan and Constitution thus robs young learners of their soul as citizens and future leaders.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":8258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-withbanner.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_expiration-date-status":"saved","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[2048,2050],"tags":[347,155,156,2047,2051],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8257"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8257"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9280,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8257\/revisions\/9280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}