GMRC

A senator and a congressman recently both filed a bill to bring back GMRC to the elementary and high school
curriculum. The Congress has endorsed the bicameral version of the bill requiring students from kindergarten
to high school to take classes on good manners and values education. The Good Manners and Right Conduct
(GMRC) will be offered to the elementary level and Values Education will be taken in Grades 7 to 12, to replace
the existing Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao subject in the basic education curriculum. The bill is now up for
President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature to become a law.

The subject also aims to teach students respect for intercultural diversity, gender equity, peace and justice,
obedience to law, nationalism, and others.

As for me, there is no need to bring back GMRC and Values education subjects to the curriculum because ESP
itself is enough to develop the values of our school children. The lessons and activities in this subject are
suitable to the DepEd’s Goal which are Maka-Diyos, Makatao, Makakalikasan at Makabansa. Let us not forget
that while schools have the obligation to educate the youth on the best values of society, but instilling the
right values is also the job of all of society.

ROTC
The Reserved Officers Training Corps or ROTC was abolished wayback in 2002 because of several cases of
hazing abuse which led to the death of several victims which are mostly college students. Since then, the
government made optional the ROTC for college students.
College students are instead required to choose among three NSTP components: the ROTC, the Civic Welfare
Training Service (CWTS), and the Literacy Training Service (LTS).
But nowadays, there was a call from the President to bring it back to the curriculum. A bill that would make
the ROTC program mandatory for Grades 11 and 12 was submitted in the congress which was House Bill 8961.
The bill states that the conduct of military training under ROTC shall apply to all students in Grades 11 and 12
in all senior high schools in public and private educational institutions.
This means the military training would be required for both male and female students.

The goal behind the proposed two-year mandatory ROTC is producing well-trained and prepared reservists for
military and civic service. There was a need to do this after a series of threats from terrorist groups like what
happened in the ridiculous attack in Marawi City in Mindanao. With the additional number of military
reservists rendered during the war in Marawi, government soldiers succeeded to defeat the terrorists.

The president expressed emphasis on putting the kind of men that will lead the program. In no way should the
ROTC be used for political gains and as a mechanism for hazing and abuse.