RBEC: Answer to Government's Budget Deficit

The Restructured Basic Education Curriculum (RBEC) is a result of a 16-year study done by Department of Education (DepEd) secretaries Lourdes Quisumbing, Bro. Andrew Gonzales and Isidro Carino. When Sec. Raul Roco assumed post, he continued consultations that started on March 2001. The consultations were done with 16 regional directors, 145 superintendents, at least 20,000 principals and representative teachers of the different subject areas in different grade and year level.

On December 7, 1998, the Philippine Commission on Educational Reforms (PCER) through Executive Order No. 46, wanted to implement the restructured RBEC for elementary and secondary public schools on 2002. More than 50% of private schools have implemented RBEC as well. Aside from stress on patriotism, RBEC also aims to increase in the time allotment on the basics.

The 2002 RBEC emphasizes on the basics of reading, writing, arithmetic, science and patriotism. Integrative and interactive teaching-learning approaches are stressed. These are characterized by group learning and sharing of knowledge and experiences between teachers and students and among students.

The focus will be on English, Filipino, Math and Makabayan, for grades II and I. As part of the content of English, Science and Health are integrated. In addition, scientific processes are used. This means that various science and health topics will be discussed in the process of teaching language.

Grades III-IV students will have five-learning areas: English, Filipino, Science and Health, Math and Makabayan. There will be more time given to Science for grades IV-VI.

Music, Art and Physical Education are integrated in Sibika at Kultura, for grades I-III. Makabayan for grades IV-VI is an integration of Social Studies, Home Economics and Livelihood, and Music, Arts and Physical Education. Good Manners and Right Conduct will be present in all learning areas.

English, Filipino, Science, Math and Makabayan will be learning areas in high school. One of the major changes lies in Math where linear, sequential approach is used. The components of Makabayan for the secondary level are Social Studies, Technology and Home Economics and Livelihood, Music, Arts and Physical Education and Values Education.

The committee believes that through the RBEC, team building is encouraged whenever possible for greater learning reinforcement. It will also give greater emphasis on the computer literacy in schools where equipment is available, thus paving the way for Information Technology (IT). Competencies in listening, reading, writing and speaking are also yearned to be developed through the use of varied materials and teaching strategies. Critical thinking is also developed for lifelong learning.

The idea of having RBEC implemented is to give more emphasis and time for math and science subjects. After ranking 37th out of the 38 countries who joined in the recent competition in these subjects, it is just right to find a way on how Filipinos can do better in these fields. In connection to this, elementary and high school students generally get a low grade in math and science tests. Elementary students only get a mean percentage score (MPS) of 49.75 in math and science. While high school students get an MPS of 51.83 in math and only 45.68 in science.

This means that in a world where math and science are the ones 'ruling', the Philippines obviously is behind almost every other country that there is. This implies that we are not competent enough to be able to cope with the others in terms of their fast-paced development.

The people behind RBEC, including the government itself, make it sound like the main reason for the implementation is the country's poor skills in math and science. They make it sound like RBEC was established in order to solve the country's problem with its inefficiency in the said fields. But what they fail to do is to tell the people the truth of it all.

RBEC is an answer to the country's problem, not in its inefficiency, but its budget allotment. There is a minimal allotment given to Social Works and Education by the government. Most of its budget is used for military purposes. With the US troops still in Basilan, and with their request for an extension to perform military exercises, there would surely be more money from the budget that would be asked from the government. This would mean that there would be less money again for education.

It is very unfortunate and ironic for the government to spend most of its money for military purposes instead of using the money for the future of Filipinos. It is unfortunate for the students because they are being deprived from their right to learn what they can to make themselves useful for themselves and for their country. They are not able to use their talents and abilities to the fullest simply because they are not given the chance to do so. Those who can avail of the right to learn are only those who have the money. The bottom line of this is that in this country, having a good education is not a right anymore, but a privilege.

It is very illogical for DepEd to say that they would want to focus on science when they did not include this subject in the RBEC for grades II and I. Instead, this will only be taught alongside with language. This means that science will not be given emphasis and will probably be discussed in examples that will be used to illustrate a topic or a subject matter in language. How can DepEd justify their foremost plan of focusing on this if they will not start imbedding them as early as possible? If they say that the Filipinos need to give more attention to science, why then did they decide to discuss it with language? What made them think that they should give more importance to English, Filipino, Math and Makabayan? This justification of DepEd lacks rationality.

Makabayan is a new subject that was introduced in RBEC. This subject is an integration of Social Studies, Technology and Home Economics and Livelihood, Music, Arts and Physical and Health Education. It has been said that it is Makabayan is the "laboratory of life" because this is where students will serve as the students' practice for holistic learning for them to develop a personal and national identity. But the question is how can students have these two from a subject that gives emphasis on a lot of topics? Aside from this, how can this objective be achieved when the subjects that were integrated in Makabayan do not have direct relation with each other at all and having them discussed altogether in a single subject would only put the students to their disadvantage? Students will not be able to learn all the things that they need from each of the subject under it. It will not be a good idea to study them as one.

The DepEd is saying that RBEC is the solution for overcrowded subjects. It has been said that there are 7-9 subjects in elementary and high school and with its new curriculum; subjects will be reduced into five. Thus, this will enable students to be able to get hold of books that they need because naturally, having less subjects would mean that they would need less books. Students will not be spending as much anymore. In effect, students will be able to comply with the requirements that are needed for the subjects. Also, the government will have more budgets to spend for books. As of last year, the ratio of books to students is 1:6. This means that there are six students sharing a book just to guide them in their lessons in class. These books are not even the new ones. Most of them are already dilapidated or of very poor quality. What is ironic with this point made by DepEd is that they have not yet come up with a book that will fit the subjects that they have integrated. They have started with RBEC without the basic material needed for it, which are the books.

It is so odd that DepEd seem to have rushed everything and they have already implemented RBEC last June when they have not yet tested its effectivity to a sample. They are making the entire nation as their pilot area. Hence, it is just right to say that there is no assurance that RBEC will work, more so that it will be the solution to the problems of the country in terms of education, that were pointed out by DepEd. They do not have a back up plan in case the whole system that they designed would not work. Neither do they have an answer as to what can happen to the students who went under RBEC if it does not work. With these in mind, the government is actually risking the future of the Filipinos through their education just so they can justify their little budget allocation for education.

Aside from the fact that DepEd did not try this system first and started to implement it without the proper books yet, they also did not give teachers enough training to enable them to teach the students who will be affected by this system. The training proper was just held last April and May 2002. There was even a problem with the training ground that was used for this. There was only one person training more than 200 teachers and the sound system was not efficient enough for the teachers to hear everything that were being discussed in the training. How can we expect this system to work if the people who will be teaching the subjects cannot be considered experts in this system? How can students learn when the teachers themselves have yet to learn?

It has been said that RBEC was discussed by DepEd people, experts, private and public school teachers, 16 regional directors, 145 superintendents, at least 20,000 principals, and representative teachers of the different subject areas in different grade and year levels. If this is so, why then are teachers asking the reason for its fast implementation? Why was it not clear to them how the whole process goes if they were consulted about it?

RBEC may appear to only affect public elementary and high school students, and some private students as well, and may not have anything to do with people who are already in college. This is not true. Since UP is under the government, all these affect us also. We are being given an insufficient budget by the government for our education while a lot are being spent for the senseless military exercises. Supporting the latter will not do any good to the country. It will only bring chaos and destruction. It is imaginable how the government would let the right to quality education for Filipinos suffer and give more importance to other things that are not really important compared to education that will give people their future.

There is also a counterpart of the RBEC in college, which is the Revitalized General Education Program (RGEP). Instead of integrating the subjects in college, students are allowed to choose the General courses that they would want to take. They are not required to take all the subjects that are not needed for their courses. It has been said that the reason for such program is for students to have better mastery of the subjects that they have for their courses. But this is not the reason why this was done. Just like the RBEC, RGEP was established to lower the needed budget allotment for education. This program will not help students in terms of balancing all their subjects because they can choose to take only those subjects that are very easy and need not have a lot of studying to do. This program will just promote laziness and will deprive students from learning about the environment outside of their chosen fields.

Even if RGEP has only been implemented among the freshmen of 2002, the program still affects the upper classmen. This is because these freshmen will carry the name of the school also and whatever they may become in the future will have an impact on the school that they came from. In this case, since UP is under the government and thus, they are required to adapt this program unlike other universities, they may not show competence in fields other than their own. It may result to lack of awareness in some aspect or even ignorance to some extent. These people will be who will work for the country in the future. What kind of citizens will they be if they decide not to take the subjects that were once considered essential?

The unfortunate part in having a lowered budget allocation for education is the possibility of having a tie-up with companies just to help schools with their financing. In this way, education is already seen as a commercial enterprise and not as a center of excellence where talents and abilities can be molded. It is paving the way for privatization of schools, depriving common citizens from having quality education. Doing so is just like saying that these people have no future at all because they cannot be given the opportunity to learn.

Everyone will be affected by whatever outcome RBEC will have. This is because the future of the Filipinos, along with its country is embedded in the education that they are going to get. It is like saying that we are letting our country to be behind all the others. We are retarding ourselves of development. The Philippines does not have a problem with education itself. In fact, foreigners admire us for our intelligence. The problem lies in our government. It does not know how to allocate its budget well. Giving education great importance and not just use it to cover up budget deficit, would bring the country on top again. We just need to be given enough equipment and materials to develop our skills and Filipinos will surely go a long way.

Sources:

1. Article entitled Philippine Education for the 21st Century by Asian Development Bank
2. Seventh Draft of the Restructured Basic Education Curriculum by the Department of Education
3. Speech of Mr. Danilo Arao on 2002 Basic Education Curriculum

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Joanna Vanessa P. Santos
University of the Philippines, Diliman
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