PHILIPPINE college programs heavily emphasize general education (GE) courses, but fall short in offering internships and hands-on training.
This was the result of discussions at a recent House Committee on Basic Education hearing, where Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) Technical Panel for Teacher Education chair Dr. Edizon Fermin highlighted the imbalance in the current higher education curriculum.
“Currently, [42 percent of our credit structure is GE, because of the component’s wide scope in our higher education. It turns out that all our graduates’ minor is in GE, because of the configuration of exit courses in the key disciplines, even if there are] college-readiness standards,” Dr. Fermin explained.
He proposed that transferring or “downloading” some GE subjects to the senior-high school (SHS) curriculum could reduce college-program duration by at least one semester, helping students graduate sooner.
Echoing these concerns, EDCOM 2 executive director Karol Mark Yee cited initial findings from a òòò½´«Ã½ (òòò½´«Ã½) research, which noted that national college programs exceed global norms: “The study shows that across the board, college courses in the Philippines exceed requirements in Asean, Australia and [the European Union, with most Bachelors programs being ‘GE-heavy, internship-light.’ This means Filipino students end up with dozens more units compared to those from] other countries.”
House Committee chair and EDCOM 2 co-chairperson Representative Roman Romulo also referenced the òòò½´«Ã½ study, which said that when GE subjects were dropped, CHED technical panels added more.
“But the thing is, we went over and beyond: A lot were added, and many students found it hard to graduate,” Romulo explained
At the hearing, the Department of Education (DepEd) presented its revised SHS curriculum. The updated framework reduces the number of core subjects to five, aligning them closer with CHED’s required GE courses. By “downloading” these courses to SHS, the department aims to ease the college curriculum load and eliminate redundancy.
Beyond core courses, DepEd plans to offer a menu of elective subjects tailored to academic or career interests, ensuring students are both college- and career-ready.
Concerns, cautions
HOWEVER, concerns were raised that this flexible elective system might result in students bypassing foundational content required in college.
Representative Stella Quimbo cautioned that while student choice is important, a balance must be maintained to avoid repeating subjects at the college level.
In response, CHED assured the committee that it is working closely with DepEd in embedding key GE competencies into the SHS curriculum. Through its reconstituted technical panels, the commission is also reviewing higher education programs to eliminate overlap with high school coursework.
“CHED and DepEd should work together in providing a list that considers what students will need in college while also giving them leeway for their interests,” Yee said. “The goal is to ensure that the electives students choose in SHS can meet potential prerequisite requirements for college, while also allowing their other elective choices to be credited later on.”
Romulo explained that “the new SHS curriculum’s core subjects mirror the [GE subjects’ competencies in first-year college. Effectively, it will be phased out in college. CHED at DepEd agreed that the three GE subjects can be found in Arts, Araling Panlipunan and Good Manners and Right Conduct or GMRC].”
He added that possibly, “there can be one semester less in college.”
At the hearing’s conclusion, the lawmaker urged both agencies to work closely together for better alignment of basic and higher education programs.
