THE FIVE-YEAR college curriculum proposed by the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) supposedly to make the country’s education system at par with global standards may not really be necessary, according to the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Letters.
Artlets Dean Armando de Jesus said lengthening tertiary education is “just one perspective,” and that the improvement of the quality of education depended on the “government’s intervention.”
“It does not mean that because you will increase the number of years (of education), you will end up improving (its) quality,” De Jesus told the Varsitarian.
Ched’s five-year college proposal, also known as the “10+2+3” scheme, calls for 10 years of elementary and high school education followed by a two-year pre-university program of general subjects, and specialization for three years.
Ched plans to implement five-year college programs in nursing and education next school year, and liberal arts and other courses the year after.
De Jesus said the extension would be futile without necessary changes to the curriculum, teaching methodologies, and technology.
Nevertheless, there are programs like architecture, a five-year course, which require a “longer incubation period” since “skills take time to develop.”
College of Education Dean Clotilde Arcangel, for her part, said the benefits of the five-year curriculum “remain to be seen.”
The curriculum in Education was originally meant for five years, she said, but rather than add another year to the course, students were instead required to take summer classes on their third year, Arcangel said.
Arcangel said the college’s curriculum is “more economical” compared with a five-year setup as the latter meant more expenses — students would have to pay miscellaneous fees for another year added to the program.
In making the proposal, Ched chief Emmanuel Angeles assured there would be no tuition increase.
Nursing is practically a five-year course. Ahead of the academic year, Ched issued an order which added three summers to the four-year nursing course, requiring new subjects and additional hours on hospital duties. Prinz P. Magtulis
