Quimbo: Optional trigonometry may revert college curriculum to pre-K-12

Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo | PHOTO: Facebook page of Teacher Stella Quimbo

MANILA, Philippines — Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo has raised concerns over plans to classify key senior high school subjects, such as trigonometry, as elective courses, warning that this could prompt universities and colleges to revert to pre-K-12 curricula.

During a House committee hearing on basic education and culture on Wednesday, Quimbo questioned Department of Education (DepEd) officials on why the proposed new curriculum would let students choose whether to take or skip certain subjects that had been removed from the college curriculum, based on the premise that these were mandatory under K-12.

Quimbo cited trigonometry as an example of a subject that will become elective.

She said that under this proposal, there would be some graduates of the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) strand in senior high school who may not have taken trigonometry.

“In this proposal, so instead of strands, you have clusters, and students are allowed to choose electives within those clusters.  So it is actually possible, for example, if I am in the STEM cluster, it’s actually possible for me to avoid trigonometry?” Quimbo asked, to which DepEd officials agreed.

“Unlike today, when they say you studied under the STEM strand, that means there is trigonometry, right?  So when students enter college, and say they were under STEM in senior high, automatically they can avoid trigonometry, that’s why after enrollment, they can take higher math. That’s how it is today.  But because you are shifting from strands to clusters, and it’s possible for me to avoid subjects like trigonometry, how would that work?” she asked.

According to Quimbo, this might force universities and colleges to revert to the curriculum before the K-12 was created, which would eventually mean having additional subjects.

“So in short, even if you’re saying that you will follow the CHEd (Commission on Higher Education) GE (general education) subjects, but it is actually possible that even if you belong to a certain cluster, for example STEM, you may actually avoid all the math subjects in STEM and just choose science electives. But then you are called a STEM cluster senior high graduate when you get to college,” she pointed out.

“Meaning to say colleges now will have to revert to the pre-K-12 curriculum because right now the colleges have changed their curriculum, keeping in mind that there are strands and these strands have fixed subjects, right?  That’s why colleges know that these can be used as substitutes for certain GE subjects in college therefore, here is a revised college curricula. But today, students from one strand will have different subjects taken because precisely, it’s a free choice, right? So that I think will have an implication,” she added.

In response, Education Assistant Secretary Janir Datukan said that DepEd plans to strengthen guidance counseling programs to help students choose the right elective subjects.

Quimbo, however, said that this might not be enough, considering that some schools lack or do not have guidance counselors.

“Mr. Chair, we are strengthening our guidance counseling program to exactly avoid that kind of incident where a student can just take whatever [subject],” Datukan said.

Quimbo fired back.

“I’m sorry, sir. I don’t think it’s just that. Because even if the guidance counselor will say, don’t do this, but do that. And not all schools have guidance counselors, sir; they are not enough. Also, students are not required to listen to the counselor, right, their advice is just persuasive. I don’t think the guidance counselor can solve that,” she said.

“So if that’s the case that such subjects are electives, I think what would have to change is the CHEd,” she added.

This is not the first time that Quimbo and other members of the House committee, including chairperson and Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo, have criticized DepEd over various issues related to the K-12 curriculum.

During the panel’s previous hearing on May 19, Quimbo—who is a professor at her alma mater, the University of the Philippines Diliman’s School of Economics—questioned the need to include applied economics subjects in the K-12 curriculum, noting that not all students pursue programs related to business or economics.

Quimbo also noted that the new K-12 curriculum includes four hours of applied economics, which she finds curious since it appears DepEd skipped basic economics.

READ: Stella Quimbo quizzes DepEd about Applied Economics subjects in K-12

Previously, Quimbo and Romulo criticized DepEd over several universities and colleges adopting bridging programs—short remedial courses meant to prepare K-12 graduates for college—arguing that the K-12 curriculum should have sufficed.

READ: No such thing as Grade 13, but DepEd hit for bridging program

According to Romulo, having a bridging program is a knock on the efficacy of the K-12 program because even before this was adopted, graduates of four-year high school programs were already deemed ready for tertiary education.

However, with the addition of two more years under the K-12 program, students were suddenly deemed unprepared for college education.

The K-12 program was implemented during the administration of then-President Benigno Aquino III to address concerns that Filipino workers lacked two years of basic academic preparation.

This is because many countries follow a 13-year pre-university system, comprising one year of kindergarten, six years of elementary, four years of junior high, and two years of senior high.

Over the years, however, there have been calls to revamp the K-12 program, as some experts argue that the additional two years have failed to improve the poor performance of Filipino students compared to their peers in neighboring countries.

A 2023 report by the United Nations Children’s Fund emphasized the need to “harness the potential” of early childhood education, revealing that among Southeast Asian countries, Filipino Grade 5 students ranked second to last in reading and math, trailing behind war-torn Myanmar./mcm