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Focus on education crisis and stop 'obsessing' over revival of mandatory ROTC, DepEd told
Focus on education crisis and stop 'obsessing' over revival of mandatory ROTC, DepEd told
Instead of strongly pushing for the revival of the mandatory Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), Vice President and concurrent Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sara Duterte was urged to stop her “obsession” and focus on efforts to address the education crisis in the country.
The Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND), in a statement issued Sunday, Oct. 2, condemned Duterte’s “obsession” with mandatory ROTC.
The group, composed of progressive University of the Philippines (UP) faculty and academic employees, said that the revival of mandatory ROTC “only transforms schools from safe spaces for learning into fascist military garrisons that threaten critical thinking and academic freedom.”
Duterte has been pushing for the revival of mandatory ROTC.
Initially, talks on the mandatory revival of ROTC covered learners in basic education --- particularly those in the Senior High School (SHS) or Grades 11 and 12 students.
Last week, Duterte said the return of mandatory ROTC is now being eyed for college students. She said that DepEd will just focus on areas that promote the love of country and discipline among young students.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/09/29/deped-to-focus-on-discipline-love-of-country-in-curriculum-mandatory-rotc-eyed-for-tertiary-vp-sara/
For the teacher’s group, DepEd --- under Duterte --- must “instead confront the roots of the worsening educational crisis in the country rather than fast-track the revival of mandatory ROTC and other such measures that militarize and sow terror in campuses.”
Citing the recent World Bank report, the group noted the Philippines has a “learning poverty” rate of 90 percent which is “one of the worst” in the East Asia and Pacific region.
For CONTEND, this should be a “wake up call” for DepEd officials to just focus on improving the quality of education rather than “drilling blind obedience and militaristic notions of nationalism” on the Filipino youth.
In line with the upcoming celebration of World Teachers’ Day (WTD) on Oct. 5, CONTEND also called on DepEd to instead “prioritize the problems” in the education sector.
DepEd, the group said, should address concerns of overworked and underpaid teachers, the return to full face-to-face learning, overcrowded classrooms, decrepit school facilities, and the unbridled climate of disinformation that “all combine to contribute to the worsening crisis of the Philippine education system.”
RELATED STORY:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/08/25/deped-urged-to-set-concrete-targets-to-address-learning-loss-deficiencies-in-education/