ALL teaching personnel of the five selected schools in Central Visayas are already trained and ready for the pilot implementation of the revised Kindergarten to Grade 10 (K-10) curriculum, an education official announced.
Department of Education (DepEd) 7 Director Salustiano Jimenez told SunStar Cebu on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, that their central office sent their new Matatag Curriculum experts to Cebu last week to train the teaching personnel from the selected schools in the regions.
DepEd Undersecretary for Curriculum and Teaching Gina Gonong spearheaded the seminar and training.
DepEd announced on Sunday, Sept. 17, that selected schools across the country will start with the pilot implementation of the recalibrated K-10 curriculum on Sept. 23.
The schools in Central Visayas included in the pilot implementation are Tindog Integrated School in Medellin, San Fernando North Central Elementary School in San Fernando, Tabogon Central Elementary School in Tabogon, Dumanjug National High School in Dumanjug, and Liloan National High School in Liloan.
Learners in Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 4 and Grade 7 will be the first to undergo the new curriculum for the School Year (SY) 2024-2025, Jimenez said. However, he has not mentioned the total number of these selected students to be included in the pilot implementation.
Under the Matatag Curriculum, Jimenez added that DepEd has decongested several competencies and specializations under the old curriculum that have less relevance and can be incorporated into other subjects as one.
He said these competencies and specializations can be developed by the teachers using other related subjects.
He added that there will be only minor changes in the curriculum currently used for these pupils and students in the selected schools.
Grade 1 students will now study five subjects: Language, Reading and Literacy, Mathematics, Makabansa, and Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC), instead of the previous seven subjects, which included Mother Tongue, Filipino, English, Mathematics, Araling Panlipunan, MAPEH, and Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao.
For Grade 2 students, the curriculum will focus on Mathematics, Makabansa, and GMRC, with Language Reading and Literacy being replaced by English and Filipino subjects.
Starting in Grade 3, Science subjects will be introduced in addition to the existing five subjects.
From Grades 4 to 10, students will have eight subjects, including Filipino, English, Science, Mathematics, Araling Panlipunan, MAPEH, Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE), and GMRC.
Jimenez said the revised curriculum will be fully introduced in Kindergarten, Grades 1, 4 and 7 nationwide in SY 2024-2025. Simultaneously, a pilot program for the new curriculum will begin for Grades 2, 5 and 8 in selected schools in the Philippines.
In the following school year, SY 2025-2026, the new curriculum will be implemented across all schools for Grades 2, 5, and 8, while a pilot program for the K-10 curriculum will commence for Grades 3, 6 and 9 in selected schools, with full implementation planned for SY 2026-2027.
DepEd aims to fully implement the Matatag Curriculum for Grade 10 by 2028.