President Marcos has asked one important thing from new Education Secretary Sonny Angara—to teach Philippine history in schools.
Marcos bared that among the several matters he discussed with the incoming chief of the Department of Education (DepEd) is to widen the coverage of teaching Philippine history, citing the limited history topics in workbooks.
"The one thing I asked from him was to: Please teach our children Philippine history. Because I have seen my children's workbooks and there's very little said about the history of the Philippines," Marcos said in an interview at the sidelines of distribution of government assistance in Sulu.
"And that for me, that is so important for a very simple reason...kaya ganito kami, kaya ganyan ang ugali namin dahil sa aming kasaysayan (the reason we are behaving like this is because of our history). And that's the one thing I asked of him, that's in the curriculum," Marcos added.
The President also disclosed that they are looking to simplify the curriculum to "make sure that everybody understands the basics."
"Because marami pang nasa Grade 5 na, nasa Grade 6 mahina magbasa... at yung mga simple na mathematics na exam ay hindi nila kayang gawain, so yun ang kailangan talaga (there are many students who are already in 5th, 6th grade, yet they still cannot read properly, they still cannot solve simple mathematics exams, so that is what we need). We have to go back to basics," the Chief Executive said.
Marcos also made a directive to Angara to beef up the agency's feeding program as stunting among learners persists.
He further told Angara to prioritize the retraining of teachers, considering the fast-pace technology development.
Angara was named to be the next DepEd Secretary, replacing Vice President Sara Duterte who has resigned from the post. Angara will officially take over the DepEd leadership on July 19.
