Based on the curriculum guide provided by DepEd, the incoming grade 1 students will be taking up 6

subjects for an entire school year. Each subject will be taught for a maximum of 40 minutes per day:

Reading and Writing in the Mother Tongue - 40 minutes

Oral Fluency in Filipino - 40 minutes

Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (EsP) - 30 minutes

Mathematics or Arithmetic - 30 minutes

Araling Panlipunan (AP) - 30 minutes

Music, Arts, Physical Education, Health (MAPEH) - 30 minutes

When the second half of the school year comes, a 7th subject, Oral Fluency in English, will be
introduced. This subject will be taught for 40 minutes.

Despite the increase in the number of subjects, the total hours to be spent by a first grader in school
would still be less.

Before this, the grade 1 level used to have only 4 subjects, each lasting an hour or more daily:

English - 100 minutes per day

Filipino - 80 minutes per day

Mathmatics - 80 minutes per day

Sibika at Kultura - 60 minutes per day

This set of subjects, along with the schedule, was introduced when DepEd overhauled its curriculum in
2002. Among the features of this revised curriculum is the inclusion of the subject Makabayan.

Makabayan was not offered to students in grades 1 to 3, but some concepts of the subject were
integrated in Sibika at Kultura.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro explained that the shortened time will "make education less stressful
and more enjoyable for our young learners."

DepEd has already prepared revised curriculums for grades 2 to 6, but these will not yet be implemented
until the incoming grade 1 students reach these levels.

Incoming grade 2 to 6 students in June 2012 will not be covered anymore by the new program -- at least
for the duration of their stay in grade school.

Still no Science

Just like in the old curriculum, Science will still not be offered as a separate subject to grade 1 students.

In the 2002 revised curriculum, Science and Health concepts were integrated in English. But in the new
program, Science will be integrated into more subjects: Mother Tongue, English, Health, and Math.
In a forum with businessmen on March 28, Luistro explained that DepEd wants to promote the idea that
"science is a study of everyday life."

"These concepts and skills are integrated rather than discipline-based, stressing the connections across
science topics and other disciplines as well as applications of concepts and thinking skills to real life," he
said.

Just like in the old curriculum, the K to 12 program will offer Science as a separate subject starting grade
3.

High school freshmen included

The revised curriculum will also be introduced to incoming high school freshmen, or the grade 7
students.

They will have 2 years added in their high school period. The additional years will offer students subjects
or electives that will offer specialization depending on the occupation or career track that students wish
to pursue.

Incoming 2nd to 4th year high school students will not encounter these additional years in high school
anymore.

Based on the curriculum guide by DepEd, grade 7 will have the same subjects as in grade 1, minus the
Mother Tongue subject, since this will be offered from grades 1 to 3 only. But the high school freshmen
will have the Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) subject, which will offer various skill-enhancing
topics for the entire high school level.


Though incoming students in grades 2 to 6 in June 2012 will not be covered by the new program in the
grade school level, they will be affected once they reach high school.

Social Studies is a key tool in this changing world. It serves as the foundation of social development
across the country. It acts as an agent of change which transforms an individual to be an effective citizen
of the country. Moreover, according to K+12 Enhanced Basic Education Curriculum, Social Studies will
develop the learners’ literate and effective participation as a citizen of the country. This study aimed to
elicit the perspectives of the students on the significance of Social Studies in the 21st century society. It
involved 25 Grade 7 Araling Panlipunan students enrolled in a public secondary school in the Division of
Zambales. This study made use of a qualitative design using case study method with a structured open-
ended questionnaire as the main gathering tool. Five major themes emerged from the categorized
statements of the participants on the relevance of Social Studies in the 21st century society. They cited
that social studies is still relevant today as it provides knowledge, promotes values formation, fosters
cultural sensitivity, encourages community participation and broadens global perspective. Moreover,
participants claimed that Araling Panlipunan promotes cultural heritage, fosters economic efficiency,
serves as a source of meaningful information and brings people back to the past. The study recommends
that teachers should enhance their ability to integrate information and communication technology (ICT)
in teaching Social Studies and make it contextualized, indigenized and localized.