Your Kid’s Favorite Teacher Has 3 Million Followers

How Digital Creators Are Replacing the Curriculum — and Exposing a Broken System in Philippine Education

The Scroll That Replaced the Chalkboard

In a cramped classroom in Tondo, 15-year-old Angel taps through TikTok during her break, eyes darting across videos on volcanoes, climate change, and Philippine history. “Mas naiintindihan ko kapag sa TikTok,” she shrugs. (“I get it more when it’s on TikTok.”)

She is not alone: a 2024 study by the Philippine Business for Education found that 72% of Filipino students say they grasp science and history topics better through short-form videos than textbooks. Yet in school, her teacher explains the same concepts using a worn-out textbook from 2015 — torn, outdated, and barely legible.

Across the country, variations of this story unfold daily. From Pangasinan to General Santos, students are increasingly turning to TikTok not just for fun — but to understand what school no longer teaches effectively. This is not anecdotal. It is symptomatic.

This isn’t a war between old and new. It’s a revelation: Digital platforms aren’t disrupting Philippine education — they are replacing it because education left a void.

What They’re Learning — and What They’re Not

TikTok’s algorithm doesn’t discriminate between fact and fiction — yet Filipino teens spend over 40 hours per month on the app, and while as much as 25% of their feed can be classified as educational or informational, the vast majority remains entertainment-focused.

But it rewards engagement — and creators have caught on. Teachers-turned-creators like @mightymagulang, @kuyatutor, @historywithkev, and @lykamaravilla — a licensed professional teacher who simplifies math concepts and study hacks for struggling students — have amassed hundreds of thousands of followers. For instance, @lykamaravilla boasts over 500,000 followers and 3 million likes, while @mightymagulang regularly garners tens of thousands of views on history explainer videos. Their short-form content, though limited in depth, often presents concepts in a relatable and engaging way that resonates with learners who find textbooks dense or outdated.

This influence, however, also raises concerns: the brevity and virality of TikTok’s format tend to emphasize recall over reasoning, reinforcing a culture of memorization rather than meaningful understanding. Many students cite these videos as easier to understand, more relatable, and less boring.

Some creators delve into actual DepEd competencies, breaking down Grade 10 science lessons or offering crash courses in economics and Araling Panlipunan (Social Studies). However, most content — while engaging — is short-form, reductive, and lacks academic rigor.

World War II becomes a trivia contest. Philippine democracy gets boiled down to meme wars. The algorithm is not designed for curriculum fidelity or intellectual depth. It is designed to hold attention.

And in an ecosystem where traditional education has failed to compete for students’ interest or curiosity, attention is everything.

DepEd’s MATATAG Curriculum: Reform by Slogan, Failure by Design

Launched in 2023 with fanfare and buzzwords, the Department of Education’s MATATAG agenda — short for Make the Curriculum Relevant to Produce Job-Ready, Active, and Responsible Citizens — initially positioned itself as a flagship reform effort. However, it has become emblematic of systemic instability. Its rushed implementation was compounded by a lack of thorough piloting, insufficient teacher preparation, and the absence of stakeholder consultation.

More troublingly, yet another curriculum revision is reportedly already underway under a newly appointed DepEd Secretary. This recurring pattern — of each administration imposing a different educational vision — has turned Philippine basic education into a pendulum of instability, disorienting both teachers and learners.

The MATATAG curriculum was piloted in just 35 public schools across seven regions — less than 0.1% of the over 47,000 schools nationwide. The pilot was overseen by the òòò½´«Ã½ (òòò½´«Ã½) and the Assessment Curriculum and Technology Research Centre (ACTRC). While initial evaluations were released, no nationally peer-reviewed study had validated the curriculum’s impact prior to its national rollout.

By DepEd’s own reporting, over 267,900 teachers and personnel received training on the new curriculum by May 2024. Yet, many teachers have flagged gaps in training depth, coverage, and contextual alignment — particularly in primary education. In early grades, many teachers lacked robust knowledge of child developmental psychology and effective pedagogy, leading to instruction that relied heavily on rote learning rather than fostering conceptual understanding. School-based coaching systems and classroom observation protocols remain weak or non-existent in many areas, with no national framework for sustained, science-based mentoring or professional appraisals.

Resource readiness was another critical failure point. Despite the rollout, thousands of schools reported lacking updated teaching guides or instructional materials that aligned with the revised competencies. Digital infrastructure promised since 2019 — including internet connectivity and access to online learning platforms — remained unavailable in many public schools as of 2024.

Further compounding the issue is the long-standing classroom crisis: as of mid-2024, more than 91,000 classrooms nationwide remain either unusable or fall below minimum structural standards. The textbook gap also remains severe, with millions of students sharing outdated or missing books, according to both DepEd and Commission on Audit reports.

Transparency is another flashpoint. Teachers and administrators from NCR, CALABARZON, and Western Visayas have reported that they were not adequately consulted or prepared before the curriculum was enforced. Public disclosure on MATATAG’s research methodology, list of contributors, or quality assurance processes remains limited.

In essence, MATATAG became the latest chapter in a pattern of reform by political fiat. The Philippines has revised its curriculum four times in less than 15 years, often under new leadership aiming to leave its mark. Without long-term planning, capacity-building, and empirical validation, these reforms serve more as symbolic resets than substantive change.

Barriers to Competence-Building: What Teachers Are Saying

• Excessive Ad Hoc Tasks:Teachers are frequently burdened with administrative or ceremonial assignments — often labeled as “preparatory leadership duties” handed down by principals or school heads — which deviate from their primary instructional roles. These additional tasks dilute teachers’ focus on pedagogy and student engagement, and are rarely aligned with meaningful career progression or professional development frameworks.
• Redundant Lesson Planning Requirements:Despite having a centralized curriculum, modular teaching guides, and detailed objectives laid out in the curriculum maps, teachers are still required to submit elaborate daily lesson plans. This redundancy diverts time from content delivery and contextualized instruction, especially when lesson objectives, materials, and timelines are already predetermined by the modules.
• Infrastructure Deficits and the Need for Digitization:Many schools remain disconnected from reliable internet access. This limits teachers’ ability to use efficient, time-saving tools like digital quizzes and automated assessments. The continued lack of investment in ICT infrastructure exacerbates workload, slows feedback loops, and widens the urban-rural learning divide.
• Undigitized Lessons:Most public schools still rely on physical modules, printed activity sheets, and traditional visual aids. The failure to digitize lessons — especially post-pandemic — denies both teachers and students the benefits of multimedia learning, real-time feedback, and remote access to education.
• Gaps in Teacher Training and Evaluation:Many primary school educators lack rigorous training in child development principles and instructional design. There is no systematic observation mechanism to regularly assess teaching quality. A weekly classroom observation protocol and coaching rubric could significantly improve pedagogical practice. An annual appraisal system tied to promotions and continuous professional development is crucial for teacher accountability and growth.
• Lack of Incentive Structures:Teachers often receive no recognition or material support for innovating in the classroom. Promotion mechanisms are based more on tenure than demonstrated excellence or student outcomes.

A Snapshot in Decline: What PISA Data Really Tells Us

The most damning indictment of the Philippine education system is not found in a viral TikTok — but in the hard data from PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment). In the most recent 2022 results, the Philippines ranked 77th out of 81 countries in reading, 76th in science, and 78th in mathematics. More than 80% of Filipino 15-year-olds are unable to comprehend texts of moderate length or apply basic arithmetic in everyday scenarios.

 

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Among the root causes identified by the OECD and the Philippine Business for Education are:

• Curriculum overload, leading to surface-level comprehension across too many subjects.
• Low teacher content mastery, with many educators lacking subject specialization training.
• Misalignment between instruction and assessment, where test formats emphasize memorization rather than reasoning.
• Language disconnect, where instruction in English or Filipino often mismatches students’ home languages — though research shows that shifting to mother tongue without corresponding pedagogical innovation leads to further regression.

 

One in every three Filipino students struggles to read at a basic level — and the crisis doesn’t end at graduation. According to PISA, 81% of 15-year-old students in the Philippines fall below minimum proficiency in math, 74% in science, and 56% in reading. But the problem continues well beyond school: an estimated 18 million Filipino adults — graduates of the country’s basic education system — are functionally illiterate, based on findings from the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), as cited by the Senate Committee on Basic Education. These numbers don’t just reflect test scores. They reveal a long-broken system that failed to build the foundations of learning — and now sees platforms like TikTok filling in the gaps. Photo courtesy of 

Vietnam, a fellow ASEAN nation with a similar GDP per capita, now consistently ranks among the top 20 globally. Their secret? A nationalized curriculum with streamlined learning outcomes, intensive teacher coaching cycles, and multi-year continuity in policy direction, regardless of leadership change.

The Philippines, by contrast, has seen four major curriculum revisions in under 15 years, each politically motivated, poorly resourced, and divorced from long-term national development plans.

Teachers in the Crossfire: Overworked, Underequipped, Undermined

Amidst the chaos, teachers are expected to carry the weight of every reform — with little structural support. Many public school teachers report being assigned ad hoc administrative duties that steal time from actual instruction. From organizing events to filing endless reports to assuming duties “as preparatory training” for promotion, they are spread dangerously thin.

Worse, they must prepare redundant lesson plans, despite teaching from standardized modules with pre-set objectives. With no digitized testing systems, they manually check hundreds of quizzes and assignments, consuming hours better spent coaching, innovating, or mentoring. In many classrooms, there is no reliable internet access, and no central LMS (Learning Management System) for submission, grading, or feedback.

One educator from a public elementary school in Northern Samar said:

“I haven’t had time to update my own skills. I’m too busy printing worksheets from my own money, grading until 10 PM, and fulfilling paperwork. How can I improve my teaching when I’m surviving?”

Yet, when student performance falters, it is teachers — not policy designers — who are blamed.

Reclaiming the Classroom: A Blueprint

This is not about rescuing tradition from technology. It is about liberating education from inertia.

A five-pronged plan worthy of a nation in crisis:

1. Moratorium on Curriculum Changes

• Implement 10-year curriculum cycles to ensure depth, training alignment, and content maturity.
• Any revisions must undergo scientific pilot testing, with outcomes audited by an independent academic consortium.

2. National Accreditation for EdTech Creators

• Vet, train, and certify educational influencers who align with DepEd learning outcomes.
• Offer incentives for verified creators, including micro-grants, recognition programs, and integration into LMS content.

3. Teacher Reprofessionalization Studios

• Equip every regional DepEd office with media production facilities where teachers can film digital lessons.
• Provide hazard pay for content creators and ensure intellectual property protection to incentivize innovation.

4. Student Digital Portfolios and LMS Access

• Pilot digital portfolio systems in select cities (e.g., Quezon City, Iloilo, Bukidnon), coupled with reliable device access and offline LMS compatibility.
• Measure competencies based on project-based, interdisciplinary learning rather than memorized tests.

5. Institutional Overhaul for Teacher Competence Building

• Implement weekly classroom observation and coaching sessionsbased on a national rubric.
• Require annual competency appraisals, including knowledge mastery, pedagogy, and student engagement.
• Promote only based on performance and pedagogical growth, not tenure alone.
• Partner with institutions like Philippine Normal Universityand SEAMEO INNOTECH for continuous in-service training.

6. Remove Redundancies and Free Up Time for Teaching

• Scrap lesson planning mandates when modules already contain objectives and activities.
• Eliminate non-teaching tasks unrelated to instruction like “preparatory” admin burdens used as unofficial prerequisites for promotion.
• Digitize assessments and quizzes to reduce manual checking time.
• Equip schools with internet connectivity and LMS platforms like Moodle, Canvas, or Google Classroom — at minimum.

7. Create an Independent Curriculum Oversight Commission

• Separate from DepEd, this commission must oversee learning outcome standards, content vetting, and the scientific integrity of reforms.
• Composed of education experts, development economists, neuroscientists, and technologists — not just bureaucrats.

What TikTok Teaches Us About the Future of Learning

Vietnam, once in the same developmental bracket as the Philippines, has outpaced us by implementing long-term teacher training programs, national broadband strategies for education, and rigorous curriculum pilots. The difference? Stability, strategy, and state capacity.

The Philippines must stop mistaking movement for progress. Each new education secretary shouldn’t bring a new curriculum — they should bring continuity, quality assurance, and accountability.

If a six-minute clip from a TikTok creator lands deeper than hours of classroom time, that speaks less to technology’s power — and more to education’s stagnation. The solution isn’t to restrict TikTok. It’s to adapt without compromising integrity, purpose, or depth.

The next phase of Philippine education won’t be born in boardrooms — it’ll be revealed in classrooms where students wield mobile phones not as distractions, but as extensions of their agency. And where educators, anchored by a stable curriculum, seize digital tools not for novelty — but for lasting impact.

If we can stabilize the foundation, everything else can — and must — follow.

A Final Word: From Scrolling to Schooling

Angel, a high school student from Tondo, says TikTok helps her “catch up” on the lessons her school has failed to teach effectively. Still, even she recognizes the gap it can’t fill. “Mas okay pa rin sana kung ‘yung teacher ko ang nagtuturo ng ganun, hindi lang sa phone,” she says quietly. (“I mean, it’d be way better if my teacher were the one teaching that — not just some video on my phone.”)

The real tragedy is not that TikTok is filling the void. It’s that we’ve normalized the void.

TikTok learning isn’t the problem. It’s a symptom. The real crisis is a state that has surrendered the classroom — to underfunding, to political turnover, and now, to algorithms.

Until the Philippine education system reclaims authority over learning, not just through regulation but by winning back the trust of teachers and students alike, digital platforms will continue to be both the patch and the proof of institutional failure.

And in that vacuum, no algorithm — not even one as powerful as TikTok’s — can teach a nation to learn.