Academics unite to defend GE courses

By PHER PASION

MANILA — In the wake of the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) plan to remove general education (GE) courses in college, members of the academic community launched the General Education Movement (GEM) at the Philippine Normal University (PNU) on May 16.

The movement vowed not only to defend but also to further develop and strengthen GE courses after CHED postponed the implementation of the Reframed General Education Curriculum Component (RGECC) until 2028. For the academic community, this was considered an initial victory following the May 12 protest held at the CHED main office. However, they stressed that the threats against GE subjects are far from over under an education system they describe as colonial, market-oriented, and profit-driven.

“There is a need not to remain silent even if CHED postponed its plan to reduce GE subjects. We must continue engaging with different institutions and conducting consultations from the ground. This is where we can consolidate our greatest strength in fighting these threats against GE subjects,” said Dr. Jonathan Geronimo of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman and one of the initiators of GEM.

CHED’s highly criticized move to reduce GE subjects from 36 units to 18–21 units drew opposition from the academic sector, as this supposed “solution” to address learning gaps would create more harm than good, according to GEM.

According to Dr. David Michael San Juan of De La Salle University (DLSU)-Manila and lead convenor of Tanggol Wika, the Technical Panel on General Education that produced the RGECC is connected to PHINMA Corporation and iPeople Education. These corporations operate in partnership with the Ayala and Yuchengco groups which also own APEC Schools, a stand-alone senior high school system in the country.

“Two co-chairs of the Technical Panel on General Education come from schools connected to iPeople. Are we going to allow people who represent big corporations and treat education as a business to shape our curriculum?” San Juan said.

He stressed that a manifestation of liberalized education is its excessive focus on profit. “They want to quantify everything with numbers. If many students are unemployed, they immediately think education is failing. They do not even bother to ask whether we have enough industries in our underdeveloped country.”

For the academic community, reducing the number of GE courses would weaken critical and creative thinking among students which are integral to holistic development as citizens with a shared sense of humanity.

“Removing GE subjects means undermining critical thinking and human development among our students. Subjects such as Humanities, History, Ethics, Arts, and Filipino, among others, are what make educational institutions relevant not only to knowledge but also to society and the nation as a whole,” said Prof. Jun Rivera, president of Samahan ng mga Dalubguro sa Filipinolohiya (SADAFIL) from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP).

San Juan said that 60,000 to 90,000 faculty members could be displaced based on their computations. Drawing from their experience in 2013 when CHED removed Filipino courses from the college curriculum, he said that the government proved unable, unwilling, and incapable of fully protecting teachers from displacement, load reduction, and de facto salary cuts.

“As long as Filipino remains part of the curriculum, the people will continue to have a voice in education. But once it is completely removed, not only will the subject disappear, but also our ability to recognize whom education should truly serve,” said Ashley Guarin, president of PUP-Ugnayan ng Talino at Kagalingan.

GEM vowed to continue its campaign to defend GE courses as it called on CHED to junk the RGECC, ensure genuine and democratic public participation in curriculum reforms, strengthen existing GE subjects, and restore Filipino and Panitikan subjects in the college curriculum. (DAA)

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