DepEd reduces learning hours of pupils in elementary schools

The Department of Education (DepED) has reduced the learning hours for elementary students, citing the “alarming size” of student population as part of its revised classroom program.

“In response to the alarming size or population of learners in a class or crowded classrooms, safety of young pupils and public clamor for lesser learning loads, the Department of Education will implement a revised classroom program and subject nomenclature which integrated some learning areas that reduced the learning hours in the elementary level,” Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said in DepEd Order 90, series of 2009 issued late last month.

The order mandates all DepEd officials to implement the program starting last month though Lapus said priority will be for those schools which have classroom shortage.

Under the revised program, the designated grade levels will follow the numbers of hours: Grades 1 and 2; four hours; Grade 3, four hours and 30 minutes, and Grades 4, 5 and 6, five hours.

The daily time allotment showed that Grades 1 and 2 pupils will have 90 minutes each for English and Filipino, Sibika at Kultura and 70 minutes each for mathematics for a total of 240 minutes on a daily basis.

For Grade 3 pupils, they will have 90 minutes for English, 70 minutes for Filipino, Sibika at Kultura, 70 minutes for math and 40 minutes for science for a total of 240 minutes.

For Grades 4, 5 and 6, they will have 60 minutes each for English, 40 minutes for Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika, 60 minutes for math, 60 minutes for science, 40 minutes for Filipino and 40 minutes for Edukasyon Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan for a total of 300 minutes for each grade.

To compensate for the revised program, Lapus said science and health will be integrated into the English subject for Grades 1 and 2 while Sibika and Kultura will be integrated into Filipino in Grades 1, 2I and 3.

For Grades 4, 5 and 6, Musika, Sining at Edukasyong Pampalakas ng Katawan will be integrated into Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika while Edukasyong Pagpapakatao will be integrated into all subjects.

Lapus said the revised program will not affect learning of students as the affected subject will be integrated into other subjects.

Earlier, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) had chided DepEd for its rosy pronouncements on the state of the country’s educational system, saying the government and the department had actually said there are still shortages of classrooms and teachers leading to larger class size and longer working hours for teachers.

The group added from 2001 to 2006, real spending on education had been reduced by an average of 3.5 percent.

“As a result, shortages in teachers, classrooms, textbooks and other resources ballooned to unprecedented levels, school maintenance and operations budget were cut, and teachers were burdened with heavier work loads,” ACT Chairman Antonio Tinio said.

Another group, the Kabataan Party-list group cited a study conducted by the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) that class size in Philippine elementary schools stood at 1:43.9 while in Malaysia the figure is at 1:31.7, Thailand, 1: 22.9, Japan, 1:28.6 and India 1:40.

“This figure has surely ballooned as students of age to attend school increase by 2.3 percent this year,” the groups Rep. Raymond Palatino said.

He added the disparity between the Philippines and other Asian countries in class size was even bigger in the high school level. In the same survey, the country registered an average high school class size of 56.1, higher than Malaysia’s 34, Thailand’s 41.5, Japan’s 33.9 and India’s 39.  –Jason Faustino, Daily Tribune