JMJ Marist Brothers

NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY

Marist Ave., Dadiangas North, General Santos City
Graduate School

1st Trimester, A

cademic Year 2019-2020

Critical Analysis on Curricular Reforms in the Philippine Educational

System

Submitted to:

GAUDY ORTIZO, Ph.D

Professor

Submitted by:

Jayron D. Bermejo

August 2019
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY
Marist Ave., Dadiangas North, General Santos City
Graduate School

Critical Analysis on the article entitled “DepEd bolsters Preventive Drug

Education Program through curriculum, instruction”

COMMENTS

The youth are said to be vulnerable. They are like fruits –easily peeled

and played. In their adolescent stage, they may experience psychological and

behavioral challenges that when unguided, will become the reason of them

turning to dream-shattering decisions in life. To name one struggle the youth are

facing – DRUG USE AND ABUSE.

Bizarrely, drug use and abuse has become a worldwide problem in

modern times. According to drugaware.com, a drug is any substance which,

when taken into the body, alters the function either physically or psychologically.

Furthermore, it means a habit-forming substance which is taken pleasure or

excitement and which induces sleep or produces insensibility. Youth and

teenagers are more prone to become the victims of drug abuse.

Drugs addiction is a very severe problem and even if the addict is using

prescribed drugs, its effects can be very detrimental and damaging indeed. It is,

consequently, imperative that the government takes executive, lawful and policy

measures to put an end to the perils that drug addiction may bring. I strongly
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY
Marist Ave., Dadiangas North, General Santos City
Graduate School

believe that the right kind of information can help the addict avoid overindulging

and it can also prevent medical-related complications in the future.

Problems about drugs are a worldwide phenomenon. In fact, in the US,

addiction to drugs is quite prevalent. A study as regards this problem revealed

that one in every five American aged between sixteen and fifty nine had used at

least one drug. What’s more is that about half (46 percent) of Americans, aged

between 16 and 21, admitted having used drugs in different phases of their life.

Even more worrying is the fact that approximately twenty million people, aged

above twelve years, have used illegal drugs in the US. In fact, about 1.47 percent

of Americans are addicted to drugs.

Drugs addiction in Pakistan is no less bothersome. Even the neighboring

countries such as India, Bangladesh and Maldives as well as Nepal have notably

drugs addiction issues, Pakistan is considered to be the worst affected

throughout South Asia. Sadly, it is, after all, the home to the largest market for

heroin consumption.

This issue does not exempt Philippines. We have heard on radio; see on

news broadcast on national television about how huge this problem is in our

country. The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDP) has commissioned a survey

estimating the current drug users. Horribly, 1.8 million or 1.8% pof the total
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY
Marist Ave., Dadiangas North, General Santos City
Graduate School

Philippine population are drug users and the data include YOUNG

INDIVIDUALS.

With the presence of President Rodrigo Duterte as the president of our

country, his campaign on WAR ON DRUGS remains unrelenting. Recently, in his

3rd State of the Nation Address (SONA), he noted that the number of deaths rose

to more than 4,500 already where suspects have been shot dead during

operations. By stating that these policemen ending users’ life with the words

“NANLABAN SILA”, the war on drugs has brought horrors and pains most

especially to the families of the killed users. As a reader of the article, it is hard to

be conclusive whose mistake it is, the user who supposedly should follow the

laws of our motherland or the men in uniform who should not put justice and the

firm law through their guns?

This might be the point of the article, aside from the governing bodies who

continue to fight to stop this problem, it tackles on the involvement of Department

of Education in strengthening the campaign against the use of illegal drugs

through integrating in our curriculum particularly in the instruction the Preventive

Drug Education Program or PDEP. Specifically, it noted that the PDEP

framework shall be anchored on subjects such as HEALTH EDUCATION and

EDUKASYON SA PAGPAPAKATAO (ESP).

 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY
Marist Ave., Dadiangas North, General Santos City
Graduate School

I am an English teacher but I have experienced teaching MAPEH when I

was still in the private school. Indeed, the discussion of the effects of

PSYCHOACTIVE or ILLICIT DRUGS has been included in the HEALTH AREA of

the subject. Furthermore, upon transferring to public school, I happen to coach

Extemporaneous speech during the Provincial Children’s Month Celebration

centering on the topic – DRUG PREVENTION IN SCHOOLS. Moreover, I was

able to attend meetings on BKD or Barkada Kontra Droga. BKD an

institutionalized program consistent with the powers vested in the Dangerous

Drugs Board (DDB) under section 77, Art. IX of RA. 9165 otherwise known as the

Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. BKD is a peer group organized to

provide and support school activities that promote awareness and intervention to

drug abuse and its related issues which requires every school to establish BKD

Center through National Drug Education Program (NDEP).

To me, this is a point and a good side of the government sectors like

DepEd, through partnerships, providing activities like competitions and seminars

to promote the advocacy against the harms drugs may bring into one’s life. The

only perplexing question in my mind is, HOW STRONG THE CAMPAIGN IS?

SHOULD WE WAIT FOR THE DRUG PREVENTION MONTH TO ADDRESS

THE CONCERN?

SUGGESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY
Marist Ave., Dadiangas North, General Santos City
Graduate School

DepEd secretary Leonor Briones has tucked its promise to respond to the

directives of the President to reinforce and augment further curricular reforms on

anti-illegal drugs which is part of her 10-point agenda for DepEd. To me, plans

were plotted, actions were taken, but DepEd must not stop on the blueprints. It is

high-time for DepEd to include the PROMOTION OF VALUES FORMATION

THROUGH INSITITUTIONALIZED HOMEROOM PROGRAM across levels for

us teachers to help in the dissemination of information and solidification of the

campaign.

For three years of being an adviser in the Senior High School (SHS), I

have faced struggles in handling students’ misbehavior. It is difficult to balance

what the DepEd wants and what you need to do. Being instructed to attain the

80-hour sessions in the subject I teach to meet the standards and competencies

which are deemed to be non-negotiable, we, teachers, scrap on whether to attain

a high Mean Percentage Score (MPS) as a reflection of how well we have taught

our students since performance of teachers are being rated and evaluated or

spending or allotting time for values formation before you proceed to “OUR

LESSON FOR TODAY IS” “OUR OBJECTIVES ARE” “YOU WILL BE

GROUPED INTO FIVE” “GET ONE WHOLE SHEET OF PAPER” “FOR YOUR

ASSIGNMENT” scenarios.

Yes, there was a time that Homeroom program was included in the SHS

every Friday. It was in 2017 when it was implemented. Normally, we have half
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY
Marist Ave., Dadiangas North, General Santos City
Graduate School

day class every Friday to cater those subjects affected by meetings and

ceremonies and the afternoon session is devoted to directionless meetings. I

must say there are some worthy meetings but there are those which retain to be

part only of the minutes of the meeting. But after the trial-and-error, the program

did not succeed. This is I think one quality that I dislike about our department. We

are considered to be the home of seminars, trainings and workshops but we are

weak on Abraham Maslow’s highest need – SELF ACTUALIZATION. We lack

SUSTAINABILITY. Programs seem to change year by year. There is no constant

activity which will speak of the systemic output that annually, should only be

adding, supplementing and improving and not changing. Yes, change is the only

constant thing in the world but if it calls for being constant to see CHANGE in our

students’ behaviors, I would say – a program tested through time is a feasible

answer.

I suggest that DepEd should already give chance to teachers to prove

their worth as ADVISERS through apportioning a time for VALUES

FORMATION. This is something that we already miss. We seem to care too

much on making our students intelligent but we forget to emphasize that EQ is

always higher than one’s IQ. We must start already enlivening AGAIN the core

values “Maka-Diyos, Makakalikasan, Makatao at Makabansa” through the

homeroom program.. There are a lot of potential topics which are not only for

elementary. Imagine a child exposed to an English speaking class in his/her early

 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY
Marist Ave., Dadiangas North, General Santos City
Graduate School

years with strong foundation of the facility of language but tend to forget when

not followed –up in secondary and tertiary years. It looks like that, VALUES ARE

QUINTESSENTIAL. THEY TRANSCEND THROUGH TIME. There are worthy

topics to be discussed like coping with stress to avoid depression and suicide,

how to be kind and good, teaching respect and discipline, the routinely values

which are forgotten like the use of po and opo or paying deference to elderly,

addressing the crisis in adolescent life, the essence of good relationship. These

are taught but these should be strengthened not because it is what the monthly

calendar of activities tells you to do but because it is what you need to do. It

looks like cleaning the classroom. You do not clean and design your room

because there is a contest for BEST LEARNING ENVIRONMENT but I strongly

believe that CONSISTENT ACTIONS LEAD TO CONSISTENT RESULT.

Teaching values is an everyday battle that every teacher should uphold

Moreover, the community should be tapped in this campaign. Every

weekend, though it’s a bit ambitious, the BKD should not only be limited as a

school program but a program that a child can see anywhere he/she goes.

Programs through the initiatives of barangay officials should include BKD in the

community. It should foster the involvement of youth sector through Sangguniang

Kabataan. Instead of approving Liga sa Barangay or Beauty Pageants, local

government units or LGU must screen activities or programs of SK to boost the

understanding of the risky effects of drugs through putting BBKD or Barkada sa

 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY
Marist Ave., Dadiangas North, General Santos City
Graduate School

Barangay Kontra Droga. This will harness the essence in interdependence and

community linkages which are salient factors in immortalizing school’s vision and

mission.

Furthermore, DepEd must go back again to the grassroots where

discipline starts – AT HOME. Yes, sometimes it is difficult to impose something to

our learners when we know for a fact that we don’t want to overlap the role of

disciplining to what a parent should do. If school doesn’t want a student to use

cigarette but when at home, a father requests a child to but a box of cigar in a

store or even when a teacher says gambling is unscrupulous but a child

continuously waits for his/her to finish “tong-its”, TEACHING DISCIPLINE WILL

NEVER BE EASY. DepEd should start to make CONSISTENT programs of

TEACHER-PARENT PARTNERSHIP in molding the child.

As a grasp, there should be triangulation in teaching values. That what a

child learns in school should be observed in the community and should be seen

at home. That a child must see school as a SECOND HOME where valuing is

incorporated through instruction; a child must see his/her community as a

BOUNDLESS LANDSCAPE of honing his potential not an escape for worldly

deeds and a child must see his/her as a SAFE SPACE where love, peace,

understanding and comfort are present.

CONCLUSION
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY
Marist Ave., Dadiangas North, General Santos City
Graduate School

In a nutshell, DepEd has been a SHIP that houses people who are

responsible for building the child’s future. It is a ground for variety of flag bearers

who succinctly perform duties and responsibilities in hierarchy and meaningful

representations for the attainment of its vision-mission.

The COMPASS is the government led by officials whose dreams and

aspirations have guided the ship to where it should be heading to. It tells the

direction of the department in attaining globalization and 21st century

competence. One indicator is how it’s paradigm shift from a ten-year cycle to K to

12, adding 2 years to meet the demands in the global scale. As a breadth, it sees

the department’s worth across directions –North, East, West, South. It sees the

department’s value of dictating the future of the world as it produces the future

doctors, police officers, engineers, teachers, psychologists, entrepreneurs and all

professions you may add on the list.

The WAVES of the ocean that it traverses are the challenges it faces.

These are societal issues that continually test how stalwart and steadfast it is to

surmount the conflicting current of waters. The waves may make it shaky as

DepEd might experience being be slackened by flaws and injustices and conflict

from different stakeholders but pursues to sail and raise its flag.

The MOVEMENT OF WATER in different directions are the decisions that

the department must make. Like the PDEP framework that the article has stated,
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY
Marist Ave., Dadiangas North, General Santos City
Graduate School

it bespeaks how firm it can be in putting into action what is planned. It looks like

the stages of curriculum that starts from planning to implementing, to evaluating.

It checks where it leads its - it’s either to pass the way more travelled or less

travelled by to make a difference.

The CREW OF THE SHIP are the TEACHERS AND STAKEHOLDERS

who journey with the student. They are there to support, to scaffold and to protect

the passengers all throughout the voyage until the latter reaches its destined

place.

The PASSENGERS are the STUDENTS who paid not literally the money

but their trust and confidence to the whole team of building their future. They are

inside the ship who bring their individual stories of hopes and dreams shared to

their fellow passengers as the expedition of life goes on. Some may find comfort

through being with fellow passengers who focuses on their goals but some might

be engrossed with how other passengers teach them to find leeway in

contextualizing the role they should do while they are there. These passengers

redirect their attention through involving them into pastime not worth the price

and prize of the trip. They can be your temporary friends who will make you use

illicit drugs and other substances that would damage your future but when they

reach their destination, they will leave you stocked inside the ship, or the worse,

throw you into the bosom of the water will they be impregnated with intoxicated

water from the dumps of other ships.

 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY
Marist Ave., Dadiangas North, General Santos City
Graduate School

As an end, the article has been an image of hope most especially that

drug addiction, use and abuse is intermittently lurking in the lives of Filipinos

most especially the youth. But the article is trying to allow us to see and

understand that there are viable actions which are targeted to benefit our

students/learners. It teaches us that addressing these social issues concerning

the youth such as prevention is and will always be a collective responsibility.