Curriculum in the Philippines

THE RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL INFLUENCES AND EVENTS THAT TOOK PLACE IN THE COUNTRY AFFECTED AND SOMETIMES DICTATED THE KIND OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPED IN THAT PARTICULAR EPOCH OF PHILIPPINE HISTORY. COLONIAL RULE IN THE COUNTRY TAILORED THE CURRICULUM TO SERVE COLONIAL GOALS AND OBJECTIVES. BEFORE THE COMING OF THE SPANIARDS THE FILIPINO POSSESSED A CULTURE OF THEIR OWN. THEY HAD CONTACTS WITH OTHER FOREIGN PEOPLES FROM ARABIA, INDIA, CHINA, INDO-CHINA AND BORNEO. THE DIARIES OF FR. CHIRINO ATTEST TO THE HISTORICAL FACT THAT “THE INHABITANTS WERE A CIVILIZED PEOPLE, POSSESSING THEIR SYSTEM OF WRITING, LAWS AND MORAL STANDARDS IN A WELL-ORGANIZED SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. THEY DID NOT HAVE AN ORGANIZED SYSTEM OF EDUCATION AS WE HAVE NOW. THEY, HOWEVER, POSSESSED THE KNOWLEDGE AS EXPRESSED IN THEIR WAYS OF LIFE AND AS SHOWN IN THE RULE OF THE BARANGAY, THEIR CODE OF LAWS – THE CODE OF KALANTIAO AND MARAGTAS, THEIR BELIEF IN THE BATHALA, THE SOLIDARITY OF THE FAMILY, THE MODESTY OF THE WOMEN, THE CHILDREN’S OBEDIENCE AND RESPECT FOR THEIR ELDERS, AND IN THE VALOR OF THE MEN.

DIFFERENT COLONIZERS BROUGHT DIFFERENT CULTURE AND EDUCATIONAL CURRICULUM TO THE PHILIPPINES. THE SPANISH CURRICULUM THEN CONSISTED OF THREE R’S – READING, WRITING AND RELIGION WAS IMPOSED WITH THE CURRICULAR GOALS FOR THE ACCEPTANCE OF CATHOLICISM AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF SPANISH RULE. THE AMERICAN DEVISED CURRICULUM WAS ALSO DOMINATED WITH THE MOTIVE OF CONQUERING THE FILIPINOS NOT ONLY PHYSICALLY BUT ALSO INTELLECTUALLY. JUST LIKE THE SPANIARDS AND THE AMERICANS, THE JAPANESE DEVISED A CURRICULUM FOR THE FILIPINO TO SUIT THEIR VESTED INTEREST. THEY INTRODUCED MANY CHANGES IN THE CURRICULUM BY INCLUDING NIPPONGO AND ABOLISHING ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION AND AS A SUBJECT. ALL TEXTBOOKS WERE CENSORED AND REVISED. THE JAPANESE-DEVISED CURRICULUM CAUSED A BLACKOUT IN PHILIPPINES EDUCATION AND IMPEDED THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS OF