Teachers, students protest proposed overhaul of GE curriculum

Educators, academic organizations, and faculty unions marched to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) main office in Quezon City on Tuesday to voice their opposition to the proposed Reframed General Education Curriculum, which seeks to reduce college General Education (GE) requirements from the current 36 units to as few as 18 units.

The protesters, who first gathered at the University of the Philippines Diliman before marching to CHED, submitted petitions, position papers, and statements calling for the immediate withdrawal of the curriculum revisions.

Prof. Jonathan Geronimo, convenor of the General Education Movement, characterized the proposal as a "market-driven" shift in Philippine higher education.

“The university is being reduced into a training center for flexible labor instead of remaining a space for critical inquiry, democratic reflection, and social responsibility,” Geronimo stated.

He argued that while CHED frames the plan as modernization and streamlining, it represents a deeper restructuring of higher education according to neoliberal and market-oriented priorities.

Geronimo stated that the planned reduction would shift universities toward labor market training at the expense of critical and humanistic education, effectively turning universities into training centers for flexible labor rather than spaces for democratic reflection and social responsibility.

The protesting groups emphasized that humanities and social science subjects are vital for developing communication skills, ethical reasoning, and critical thinking, especially given current challenges such as disinformation and historical distortion.

Geronimo described it as "deeply contradictory" for CHED to acknowledge existing student deficiencies in reading comprehension and critical thinking while simultaneously proposing to cut the disciplines that develop those capacities.

Beyond the curriculum itself, faculty organizations raised alarms regarding widespread job displacement for instructors, particularly part-time, contractual, and non-tenured faculty members.

Thousands of educators could face load reductions, reassignments, or the non-renewal of contracts if these revisions are implemented.

Geronimo further noted that educators have already endured years of contractualization and excessive workloads, and the proposed GE cuts would treat them merely as operational costs to be minimized.

“The proposed GE cuts will intensify these conditions while treating educators merely as operational costs that can be minimized in the name of efficiency,” Geronimo added.

In response to these concerns, the groups demanded that CHED conduct a broader and more consultative review involving academic departments, unions, and other stakeholders.

Their specific demands include the withdrawal of the draft Reframed General Education Curriculum, the retention of current GE units, and the restoration of subjects such as Filipino, Panitikan, and the Philippine Constitution.

While CHED indicated on 7 May that the reframed curriculum is not yet final, the academic groups urged the public to support an education system that is nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented.###