While Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has long been criticizing the K-12 program and the ‘deteriorating competence’ of teachers, he came to their side on the issue with the ‘no-homework’ policy being pushed by several lawmakers.
He’s cool with the proposals but believes that teachers should be the ones to determine whether it was necessary to give homework to their students. If he had his way, there’s no need for a law to implement the policy because teachers are more capable of judging the need for homework.
“I believe that our teachers are more than capable to discern what and how much homework to assign to their students to encourage good study habits and foster intellectual development,” Gatchalian explained, according to Politics PH.
Photo credit: The STAR / Geremy Pintolo
DepEd Secretary Favors Proposals
Amid protests from teachers and disapproval from many parents, the proposals to ban homework remain controversial in the Philippines but DepEd secretary Leonor Briones favors the proposals.
When sought for her opinion on the issue, Briones readily said that she agrees with the lawmakers. She explained that she believes formal education should be focused in the classrooms so that students can enjoy more time to bond with their family back home.
“Ang gusto natin, lahat ng pormal na pag-aaral, assignments, projects, whatever, gawin sa loob ng eskwelahan. Pag-uwi nila, libre na sila, freetime na nila to be with their parents, with their friends,” Briones said.
“Pagdating ko, ginawa na namin itong policy. Ang predecessor ko, may policy din. Pero mayroon pa rin mga schools na nasanay talaga sa pagbibigay ng homework.”
The Education Secretary also pointed out that there are times when the kids are not actually the ones making the assignment but the parents; this defeats the purpose of giving homework for students to extend learning at home.
“Meron tayong policy na dinidiscourage natin ang homework dahil alam naman natin na minsan ang homework, hindi naman ang bata ang gumagawa pagdating sa bahay. At nawawalan paminsan ng panahon ang bata, ang parents, ang mga lola na mag-bond,” Briones further explained.
While it remains unsure whether any one of the proposals will eventually be approved by current lawmakers to become law, Gatchalian believes there no need for them to go through all these discussions because at the end of the day, teachers know best what to do with their students!
