Citing the need to have flexibility in the educational system, the Department of Education (DepEd) is set to fast-track the review of the curriculum for senior high school (SHS) and reduce the number of subjects, allowing learners to focus more on work immersion.

In initiating the review, education secretary Juan Edgardo ‘Sonny’ Angara disclosed that DepEd aims to reduce the core subjects of the SHS curriculum to five or six in order to promote the development student’s skills for future employment.

“If we reduce the subjects of our SHS curriculum, the students will have more time for the on-the-job training or work immersion needed by the industry so that our senior high school graduates will become more employable even if they lack work experience,” Angara pointed out.

Prior to this, DepEd officials met with academicians and education experts to accelerate efforts in reviewing and streamlining the SHS program and subjects.

Early last year, DepEd organized a national task force to conduct a study on the implementation of the SHS program in both DepEd and non-DepEd schools and as a result, it found that a revision of the K to 12 curriculum would produce more job-ready and responsible graduates.

This was followed by the launching of the recalibrated K-10 curriculum of the K-12 program in August, which is now in its phased implementation. Under the revised curriculum, the number of learning competencies was reduced by 70 percent from around 11,700 to 3,600.

Aside from this, DepEd also cut down the number of subjects, with greater emphasis given on the development of Kinder to Grade 3 learners’ foundational skills such as literacy, numeracy and socio-emotional skills.