The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) expresses deep concern over the opening of the new school year on Monday, where children, teachers, and parents will face new burdens due to the government’s failure to resolve fundamental problems in the education system.
The new school year brings new burdens to our teachers and students, while old problems in our education system persist. The implementation of the MATATAG program will only add to the workload of teachers and students, instead of addressing the real issues in our education. The MATATAG curriculum will result in a heavier workload for teachers, with a 30% increase in their teaching load. From the previous 6 teaching loads, it will now be 8. This means more students and classes to focus on, more outputs to check, and more grades to compute. Also, there are extended class hours for children, which may last until 8:00PM or later in some schools. This gambles with the well-being and safety of our students.
Meanwhile, the opening of more than 700 schools affected by the recent typhoon or being used as evacuation centers will be delayed. Instead of implementing immediate and concrete solutions to provide appropriate learning spaces, the president insensitively orders teachers and students to hold classes even outside the classroom.
Our education system, already battered by calamities and chronic neglect, will inevitably face disastrous school opening due to the government’s failure to address massive shortages and its rushed implementation of ill-conceived programs like the MATATAG curriculum. It is not evidence-based nor grounded in classroom realities. Meanwhile, blended learning is being pushed as a cure-all for classroom shortages and climate change impacts, ignoring the digital divide and lack of resources in many communities. Without urgent action to address these fundamental issues, we fear this school year will only deepen the learning crisis. Our students deserve better than this perpetual state of educational emergency.
ACT calls for immediate halt to the implementation of the MATATAG curriculum, comprehensive overhaul of the K-12 program, and significant increase in the education budget, equivalent to 6% of GDP, to address the shortages in classrooms, teachers, and learning resources.
