Malabon City Mayor Jeannie Sandoval and the Department of Education led the MATATAG Curriculum pilot run in several schools in the city on Monday, Sept. 25.
Sandoval was joined by the Bureau of Learning Delivery Director Leila Piner Areola, and Office of the Undersecretary for Curriculum and Teaching Undersecretary Gina Gonong during the launch of the pilot run at Tinajeros National High School.
The curriculum is under Memorandum No. 54, s. 2023, or the "Pilot Implementation of the MATATAG Curriculum," signed by Department of Education (DepEd) Undersecretary for Curriculum and Teaching Gina Gonong on Sept. 8.
It seeks to achieve a well-rounded set of cognitive requirements and a more explicit focus on developing 21st century skills for learners.
The initiative was also crafted with the aim of enhancing Values Education and Peace Education, while simultaneously striving to elevate the quality of the country's basic education system to international standards.
The MATATAG Curriculum program was launched by the Department of Education led by Vice President Sara Z. Duterte on Aug. 10.
Duterte said the changes made in the new basic education curriculum include a decrease in the number of learning competencies (subjects) aiming to enhance foundational skills like literacy, numeracy, and socio- emotional skills of Kindergarten to Grade 3 students.
According to the DepEd, MATATAG stands for “MAke the curriculum relevant to produce job-ready, active, and responsible citizens; TAke steps to accelerate the delivery of basic education services and provision facilities; TAke good care of learners by promoting learner well-being, inclusiveness learning, and positive learning environment; and Give support for teachers to teach better.”
Sandoval also visited the Santiago Syjuco Memorial School, which has a total of 412 enrolled students from Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 4, to check the situation of learners on the first day of the curriculum pilot run.
Other city schools where the pilot run was launched were Dampalit integrated School with a total of 175 enrolled students from Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 4; and Muzon Elementary School with 212 enrolled students from Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 4.
According to the Malabon City Public Information Office (PIO), Malabon is the only city in Metro Manila chosen by DepEd to conduct the pilot run of the MATATAG program.
The city mayor expressed her gratitude to DepEd for selecting Malabon as the location for the pilot run of the MATATAG Curriculum.
“Ang MATATAG Curriculum ay nakasentro sa mas matibay na literacy at numeracy skills ng ating mga mag-aaral (The MATATAG Curriculum is focused on developing strong literacy and numeracy skills of our students),” she said.
“Ibig sabihin nito, para sa akin ay quality over quantity. Binawasan ang bilang ng mga asignatura para makapaglaan ng mas maraming oras sa mga nararapat na kailangan (For me, this means quality over quantity. The number of subjects has been reduced to allocate more time to what truly matters),” she added.
The primary feature of the revised K to 10 curriculum is the reduction in the number of competencies, resulting in a more streamlined and concise version compared to the current curriculum.
“Out of 11,000 learning competencies, we are now focusing on just 3,000 learning competencies to provide quality education in a faster time frame”, PIO added.
The MATATAG Curriculum will focus on several subjects such as English, Filipino, Mathematics, Science, Reading and Literacy, and etc.
The said curriculum will also reintroduce the Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) as a dedicated learning area or subject, in accordance with Republic Act (RA) 11476, also known as the GMRC and Values Education Act of 2020.