Metro Manila, Philippines — ACT Private Schools – U-Belt stands in strong opposition to the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) proposal to reduce General Education (GE) subjects in the college curriculum. Specifically, the planned removal or reassignment of The Contemporary World, Art Appreciation, and Ethics to the Senior High School level represents a continuation of the colonial miseducation warned of by scholars and educators for decades.
“This is no longer a pedagogical issue, but a political one,” said Joyce Caubat, spokesperson of ACT Private Schools – U-Belt. “Once again, the state and its education technocrats have exposed their loyalty—not to the Filipino people, but to capital.”
The educators’ group draws parallels between this move and the 2013 removal of Filipino in higher education, which almost led to its disappearance in both college and high school. What is being presented as curriculum realignment, the group argues, is in fact part of a broader neoliberal agenda to mold students into cheap, exportable labor for global markets.
Instead of solving longstanding issues—such as overcrowded classrooms, underpaid teachers, and the underfunding of the humanities, the government is once again choosing the path of least resistance: cut down, compress, and commodify. “Students are offered ’employability in globalization’, and measured by how fast they can be deployed into the workforce,” Caubat said. “Never mind the quality of work, the fairness of pay, or the dignity of labor.”
The recommended GE overhaul also risks renewed displacement of college instructors, similar to what occurred during the early years of the K to 12 program. Many were forced into Senior High School with significantly lower pay and reduced benefits. “Now, this government wants to do it again. Teachers are treated as collateral damage in a reform agenda that values market efficiency over educational integrity,” she warned.
Caubat warns that the specific subjects under threat are crucial to the formation of historically and politically aware citizens:
The Contemporary World is key to understanding global politics and power, especially in light of U.S. military presence, foreign plunder of national resources, and the West Philippine Sea conflict.
Art Appreciation nurtures cultural memory and creative thought in a society plagued by historical amnesia and systemic repression.
Ethics creates space for students to interrogate questions of corruption, human rights, and justice—at a time when red-tagging and impunity are on the rise.
As private school educators, ACT Private Schools – U-Belt expressed particular concern for students burdened with high tuition fees only to be handed a watered-down curriculum. “Even under the pressures of state neglect and marketization, we affirm that education is not a commodity,” Caubat declared. “The value of GE lies not in job-readiness, but in the development of critical, socially engaged citizens.”
ACT Private Schools – U-Belt calls on educators, administrators, and students across private and public institutions to resist this latest attack on liberal education. We must demand a truly nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented education system that confronts our crises—not capitulates to them.#