College courses in the Philippines: Too much general education, not enough practical training

With Philippine college programs weighed down by an excessive number of general education (GE) courses and lacking sufficient hands-on training and internships, education agencies such as the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) are pushing for the "downloading" of GE subjects to the Senior High School (SHS) program.

- By MERLINA HERNANDO-MALIPOT

At a recent House Committee on Basic Education hearing, education stakeholders—including the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), DepEd, and CHED officials—called for urgent reforms to the country’s higher education curriculum to better align it with global standards and labor market demands.

Edizon Fermin, Chairperson of the CHED Technical Panel for Teacher Education, emphasized the disproportionate focus on general education in Philippine college programs.

Fermin pointed out that, due to the substantial GE component in the country’s higher education system, approximately 42 percent of the credit structure consists of GE subjects.

“So lumalabas, lahat ng graduates natin ng higher ed ay minor in GE (As a result, all our higher education graduates effectively have a minor in GE),” Fermin explained.

“Kasi po umulit yung configuration ng exit courses natin in the key disciplines kahit na may college readiness standards (This happens because the configuration of exit courses in key disciplines has been repeated, even though college readiness standards already exist),” he added.