Senate panel allots P1.5-B for teachers’ training on MATATAG curriculum

The Senate Committee on Finance has adopted a recommendation to set aside an allocation budget for the training of teachers in the implementation of the MATATAG K to 10 curriculum nationwide.

The Senate panel's committee report on the General Appropriations Act or House Bill 8980, has already included a P1.5 billion budgetary allotment to be used in the teachers for the MATATAG K to 10 curricula, which will be rolled out by the Department of Education in phases, starting the School Year 2024-2025 for Kindergarten, Grades 1, 4, and 7.

The Senate Committee on Basic Education, chaired by Senator Win Gatchalian, has initially recommended P1.7 billion for the training of 200,000 teachers in Key Stage 1 and other grade levels, describing the "MATATAG K to 10 curriculum as one of the low-hanging fruits to help improve learners' performance."

"One of our most important recommendations is for our teachers' training for the MATATAG curriculum. We recommended P1.7 billion to train our teachers in the rollout of the MATATAG curriculum starting School Year 2024-2025 and P1.5 billion was allotted," Gatchalian told reporters on Saturday.

Prior to the launching of the MATATAG K to 10 curriculum, some education experts decried that the current K to 12 basic education curriculum is "too congested"— preventing learners from mastering essential competencies such as literacy and numeracy.

The results of large-scale international assessments like the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA showed that Filipino learners failed to master basic competencies.

Out of 79 countries that participated in the 2018 PISA, the Philippines ranked lowest in "Reading" and placed second to last in "Mathematics and Science" subjects.

As the result of a two-year study, the MATATAG K to 10 curriculum retains only 3,600 competencies from over 11,000 in the previous curriculum—a reduction of almost 70 percent.

The Department of Education earlier cited that the MATATAG K to 10 curriculum focuses on foundational skills such as literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional skills.

This curriculum also features peace competencies.

Hence, Gatchalian urged the Teacher Education Council to align the teachers' training and education to the MATATAG K to 10 Curriculum.

The Excellence in Teacher Education Act or Republic Act No. 11713 revamped the TEC mandates to strengthen the coordination between the DepEd, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Professional Regulation Commission.

TEC shall ensure the coherence between pre-service and in-service teacher education and training. It is also mandated to set basic requirements for teacher education programs.