High school students from the Manuel Roxas High School in Quezon City paint different images on a mural themed “Imagine Rotary, Dream Big and Take Action” as they take part in a mural painting competition on May 9, 2023. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File 

MANILA — Education Secretary Sonny Angara has recognized the lapses in the implementation of the senior high school curriculum in K to 12 program on Friday.

Angara however said only Congress can decide if it should stay or be scrapped, following a proposal filed to return the country in the basic education system.

Angara mentioned the quantity of subjects as among the problems in the curriculum.

"Hindi maganda ang naging implementation nitong nakaraang dekada. Masyadong marami ang subjects at nakahon masyado ang mga bata. Hindi sila nakakapili ng subject/s," he said.

(The implementation [of SHS] in the last decade was not good. There were too many subjects and the students were constrained. They can't choose their subject/s.)

841 schools to participate in pilot implementation of ‘strengthened’ SHS program

As School Year 2025-2026 looms, Angara said DepEd plans to make changes in the curriculum in over 800 schools where the new SHS curriculum will be introduced for pilot implementation.

In the department's proposed "strengthened" SHS program, 841 schools classified as "highly ready" for the pilot implementation will have their SHS core subjects trimmed down from current 15 core subjects to only five. These include effective communication, life skills, general mathematics, general science, and pag-aaral ng kasaysayan at lipunang Pilipino.

But the education chief emphasized — only the Congress has the last word on the SHS curriculum's fate.

"Having said that, ang desisyon kung ipagpapatuloy ang SHS  o hindi ay Kongreso lamang po ang makakapagsabi at makakapag-pasya," he said.

(Having said that, only the Congress can decide whether SHS should continue or be scrapped.)

Fewer lessons, learning tracks in senior high program DepEd plans to test

This after Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada filed a measure on Thursday seeking to remove SHS in the country, citing failure to accomplish its intended goals, through the Senate Bill 3001 or Rationalized Basic Education Act.

It does not repeal Republic Act 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 entirely but proposes to eliminate the additional two years of SHS curriculum.

Estrada argued that through the years, the program costs the students and parents both their time and money but it has yet to fulfill its promises.

DepEd gears up for SY 2025–2026 with curriculum updates, new hires, nationwide programs