DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) announced that the proposed new General Education (GE) curriculum for colleges will not be implemented this school year 2026-27 following pushback from academic groups, teachers union and education advocates.
CHED Chairperson Shirley Agrupis said they will implement the reforms on 2028 but will consider the points raised by stakeholders during a series of consultations held on this matter.
CHED’s planned Reframed General Education Curriculum aimed to reduce GE units in college from 36 to 18, or from 9 subjects to 6.
Under the draft proposal, several standalone humanities and social science subjects currently required in college, including philosophy, ethics, art appreciation, and Philippine history, would no longer appear as separate mandatory courses and would instead be integrated into broader interdisciplinary subjects.
Among the proposed core GE subjects are Professional Communication, Global Trends and Emerging Technologies, Data, Evidence and Ethics in a Knowledge Society, Rizal and Philippine Studies, and Labor Education.
Opposition to this reduced curriculum was raised during consultations, statements and petitions. The position was that this proposal weakens humanities education and would displace thousands of teachers nationwide.
In a petition circulated by the Pambansang Samahan sa Linggwistika at Literaturang Filipino, Ink., education stakeholders urged CHED to withdraw the proposed curriculum overhaul and conduct broader consultations instead.
They estimated that between 60,000 and 90,000 faculty members nationwide could face reduced teaching loads, salary cuts, or displacement if GE subjects are drastically reduced.
Market oriented
CHED officials explained earlier that the proposed revisions aim to address overlaps between Senior High School and college GE courses under the K to 12 system and align higher education with current labor market demands.
But critics argued that the proposal reflects a growing market-oriented approach to education that prioritizes employability over holistic human development.
“The proposed GE reform will not fix the current crisis in the educational system, it will instead produce workers treated as commodities that will be shipped out to other countries as cheap and docile labor,” said Cobbie Jan Canda, chairperson of Kabataan Party-list Southern Mindanao.
His groups linked the proposed reforms to broader structural problems in the Philippine education system, which the group described as “colonial, commercialized, repressive, and fascist.”
The proposed reforms also come amid longstanding debates over the implementation of the K to 12 program, introduced nationally in 2013 with the promise that Senior High School would absorb foundational and general education competencies previously taught in college.
Kabataan Partylist Southern Mindanao called on the government to increase education funding and to pursue what it described as a “nationalistic, scientific, and mass-oriented” education system, rather than reducing GE units.
Kabataan Representative and Assistant Minority Floor Leader Renee Co warned that the suspension “is merely a delay” and stressed that CHED must veer away from their framework of catering subjects to the labor market.
“Their suspension must not be merely temporary. CHED must categorically abandon this market-driven framework and instead pursue a curricular agenda rooted in the genuine needs of the Filipino people,” Co said.(davaotoday.com)
With a report by Wendyl Geonimo
