Vice President Sara Duterte holds her children's book Isang Kaibigan. Sara Duterte/Facebook 

MANILA —  ACT Teachers Party List Rep. France Castro raised concerns on the implementation of certain Department of Education (DepEd) programs under its past leadership, and urged its new chief, Education Secretary Sonny Angara, to review these.

“Nakakalungkot, medyo iniwanan siya ng maraming problema ni Vice President Sara Duterte, lalo na itong Matatag Curriculum,” Castro said.

She said the Matatag Curriculum has placed significant strain on high school teachers, who are now handling 7 to 8 teaching loads per day, with each class lasting 45 minutes.

“Talagang minaximize ang 6 hours,” Castro said.

“‘Yung implementation ng Matatag Curriculum ay in phase dapat, pero parang fully in-implement this school year. Kaya hirap na hirap ‘yung ating teachers maka-cope up sa ini-implement na ito. Baka pwedeng i-suspend itong Matatag Curriculum?” she suggested.

The DepEd is preparing a department order to inject “flexibility” in the Matatag curriculum, following teachers’ concerns and calls for review.

“Noong nagkonsulta kami and after implementing the Matatag curriculum for the last few weeks, mukhang there is a need to inject flexibility sa curriculum. Nakinig kami sa ground. Nahihirapan ang ibang teachers sa ibang eskwelahan,” Angara said.

“Mayroon kaming ipine-prepare na department order to inject flexibility, meaning balik tayo doon sa anim na tig-one hour, depending on school setting. ‘Yun ang naisip namin. We’re just going to hold maybe one or two more consultations, but there is already a draft department order on this. Nakinig kami sa hinaing ng ating teachers,” he added.

The DepEd plans to hold consultations regarding the Catch-up Fridays program for reading and math.

“Pwedeng ang isang flexibility niyan ay integrated sa time allotment ng Math at saka English ang math at reading program. Pwede ring gawin ‘yung pullout strategy kung kaya ng schools, or pwede rin ang additional time allotment kung kaya naman ng ibang schools. So we’re giving flexibilities,” Undersecretary Gina Gonong explained.