DepEd Proposes Reducing Core Subjects in Senior High School
SHS Core Subjects – The Department of Education (DepEd) is reviewing the Senior High School (SHS) curriculum and plans to reduce the number of core subjects to provide students with more time for work immersion and practical training. Education Secretary Sonny Angara announced that the department intends to cut SHS core subjects to five or six to offer greater flexibility and better prepare students for employment.
Angara explained that by reducing the number of subjects, students would have more time to gain hands-on experience through work immersion, making them more employable, even without extensive prior work experience. DepEd has been actively working on streamlining the SHS curriculum. They have met with academic experts to accelerate the review process, and a national task force was established to evaluate the SHS program’s implementation in both DepEd and non-DepEd schools.
“So, we must have flexibility in our system,” Angara said in a statement. “If we reduce the subjects of our SHS curriculum, the students will have more time for the on-the-job training or work immersion needed by the industry so that our senior high school graduates will become more employable even if they lack work experience,” he added.
Former Vice President Sara Duterte, who served as DepEd Secretary before Angara, highlighted that the revision of the K to 12 curriculum was designed to produce graduates who are job-ready and responsible. Duterte also indicated that the revised SHS curriculum could be piloted in the 2025-2026 school year.
In August 2023, DepEd launched the revised K-10 curriculum, which is being implemented in phases. The new K-10 curriculum has significantly reduced the number of learning competencies by 70%, from 11,700 to 3,600, while also cutting down on the number of subjects. Greater emphasis is now placed on developing foundational skills in literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional learning for students from Kindergarten to Grade 3. These efforts are part of DepEd’s ongoing commitment to improving education and better equipping students for the workforce.
