The Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday, Feb. 16, said that it is eyeing to advance more topics on inclusivity and global citizenship in the intended curriculum for basic education.
Through the Bureau of Curriculum Development (BCD), DepEd has been updating and recalibrating its curriculum to be up to par with international curricula --- including the integration of global citizenship education.
UNESCO describes global citizenship education as one that aims to equip learners of all ages with those values, knowledge, and skills that are based on and instill respect for human rights, social justice, diversity, gender equality, and environmental sustainability and that empowers learners to be responsible global citizens.
BCD Director Jocelyn Andaya noted that Philippine Basic Education has gone quite far in terms of advocating Global Citizenship (GCED) in the curriculum. “The last three years have been very vital in establishing the structural mechanisms and support relative to the GCED at various governance levels,” she said.
Andaya said that with these outputs, the GCED advocacy will “likely reach” 27 million learners.
“Though much is needed to be done, the Department of Education, through the Bureau of Curriculum Development, is committed to advancing the courses of GCED in the intended curriculum,” Andaya said.
“As such, may we all be challenged to push all the boundaries that limit us in optimizing the premises and possibilities of GCED,” she added.
Meanwhile, DepEd --- through the International Cooperation Office (ICO) --- has been in touch with different organizations from different parts of the world to take note of their best practices, their initiatives, and projects that will help in the integration of gender sensitivity and responsiveness, cultural appreciation, and inclusivity to the DepEd curriculum.
“We believe that everyone, our learners, and ourselves included, is a global citizen,” Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio said.
“We must evolve our curriculum to focus on cultivating values and integrating concepts of global citizenship to help our learners develop into responsive and empowered individuals capable of building and rebuilding peaceful communities in their respective places,” he added.
San Antonio also stressed that as DepEd shapes the curriculum, not only the concepts of Disaster Risk Reduction Management, gender, and cultural sensitivity are integrated but also inclusivity and global citizenship.
These, he added, are “all important in sensitizing our curriculum to ensure that our learners develop holistically and embody being lifelong learners.”