NAVOTAS Representative Toby Tiangco said the issuance of new guidelines for flexible teaching time under the MATATAG basic education curriculum would improve teacher welfare and help boost learning competencies of students in public schools.
“I welcome the sustained efforts of the Department of Education to improve teacher welfare in the country, as directed by President Bongbong Marcos. Allowing flexibilities in teaching schedule will enable our teaching personnel the latitude in class preparation and instruction and will provide them options to adopt class schedules that are more responsive to the needs of our students,” Tiangco said.
Rep. Tiangco, however, urged the education department to be ready with immediate monitoring and evaluation of the impact of the flexible modalities on student performance.
“It’s imperative for DepEd to be ready with an evaluation mechanism that will tell us if the reforms being introduced are meeting its goals. We have no time to lose when it comes to drastically improving the state of Philippine education,” Tiangco said.
“Kaya napakahalaga na masusing bantayan ang resulta ng mga reporma dahil kung makikita natin na hindi ito nakatutulong, mas mabilis tayong makagagawa ng pagbabago sa mga inisyatibo para sa edukasyon,” he added.
Tiangco, who serves as Chair of the Committee on Information and Communications Technology, lauded the agency’s effort to allow online distance learning in their teaching modalities.
“We must leverage technology to address the diverse challenges facing our education sector. By embracing flexible delivery modalities, we can ensure broader access to quality instruction, especially in areas where in-person teaching may be difficult or impractical,” he said.
The solon also encouraged the education agency to introduce more innovations in teaching delivery, curriculum development, and learning materials development.
“We have to recognize that children today consume information differently. If we take these realities into consideration, coupled with strong programs for our curriculum delivery and teacher development, we can breach the gap between instruction and learning,” Tiangco said.
“I commend DepEd for acknowledging the diverse needs of our learners and providing various delivery modalities to address these differences. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the challenges in our education sector. A thorough evaluation of our current programs is essential, as it will guide the direction of future implementation and highlight necessary reforms to ensure continued improvement,” he added.
