Context Matters:

EVER FELT that undeniable sensation that you were out of place or that a sentence blurted by a friend was just seemingly too weird and felt like it needed more context? Well, if you have, even the learners of the country have felt that the learning competencies of the Department of Education (DepEd) have been dishing out lessons that were far too many and lacked context to let them learn a thing. Despite this, the Cavite Education Program Supervisor (EPS) of Araling Panlipunan, Emily Quintos, wants learners to know that context matters, DepEd, so remember this: CONTEXT.

CONvolution isn’t beautiful. It might seem contradictory that being complicated or convoluted in teaching won’t make a student learn more—but this is the problem for the department, according to Emily, because there is a false dichotomy present that you either give out thousands of competencies for learners to be educated or, if you conform to simplicity, Juan will fail. This can be seen in the fact that some of the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELC) have been scrutinized heavily and some deemed congested. DepEd has now learned that the more convoluted doesn’t necessarily mean the more beautiful, just imagine yourself being forced to learn thousands of competencies just in a short span of time—this was something Emily couldn't do, so she wants the learners not to experience that either. That is why, in the MATATAG curriculum, the about 12,000 subjects will be reduced by 75 percent, leaving students with a chance to digest the lessons with time

TEXTual literacy is imperative. During the incoming curriculum that has been duly revised, literacy is now becoming a focus for the department, as it is imperative for them to build good and capable students who can compete internationally—which is something that Emily personally advocates for, because she is an optimistic woman who believes that students can do it. To further improve their skills, this will be done through the fact that socio-political injustices and issues will be tackled in programs like Catch-up Fridays, which seek to monitor and improve the reading and comprehension abilities of learners. That is why steps are being taken to foster a better delivery of education services like modules and even facilities to ensure that Juan will only get the best.

“Importante kasi na maging aware at magkaroon ng context ang learners, kaya ita-tackle sa Catch-up Fridays ‘yang mga West Philippine Sea disputes at Martial Law injustices. Kaya aside sa better curriculum na less congested, matutulungan natin ang mga Caviteno,” Quintos stated as she explained that having context has indelible amounts of help for achieving the advocacy of DepEd to create internationally capable students.

[It is important to note that learners need to be aware and have context, which is why we are going to tackle the West Philippine Sea disputes and Martial Law injustices. Aside from a better curriculum which is less congested, we can help the Cavitenos.]

For the learners of Cavite, it is not really a matter of dancing with the idea of another failed curriculum with no context and congested lessons anymore, especially if they have two left feet—because the country has already seen the effects one single wrong program can bring. Emily already knows that their sector has an impalpable role in keeping the hopes of the country and even Juan alive. That is why it is always important to remember that, first, before you want to develop an internationally apt and happily fulfilled Filipino student, one must always start by remembering the word CONTEXT, for this effort can be the start of a new era.

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