Claiming that there is a lower level of discipline in kids these days compared to the old days when the subject was being taught in school, several lawmakers want to bring back Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) for all K-12 levels.
In Senate
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri filed Senate Bill No. 310 or the proposed GMRC Act stipulates that the subject will be taught once again in all levels in elementary and high school.
“I observe that this seeming downgrading of Values Education in the curriculum has made it harder to raise upright citizens. So, we see rising criminality in the streets and inside our homes committed by youngsters and adults who have not undergone GMRC as we had in the old days,” Zubiri explained.
“We witness this low level of discipline in disrespectful behavior of children and teens who are most vulnerable to the use of drugs and oftentimes resort to gangsterism.”
According to Zubiri, other countries are have benefited from prioritizing learning values, citing countries like Japan and Singapore where people are highly respectful and disciplined.
“We can see how it is effective in their own countries and as a matter of fact praised and emulated by many people across the world,” Zubiri said.
For Zubiri, the addition of GMRC will not cost much but will be a wise investment that the government must make for the future of the country’s youth.
Photo credit: Mabuhay Online / The Summit Express
Zubiri isn’t the only one who wants GMRC back. Senator Joseph Victor G. Ejercito had also filed Senate Bill No. 1855 or “An Act to Institutionalize Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) in the School Curriculum.”
“GMRC is vital to the academic development of a Filipino child as a self-reliant and patriotic citizen. It is also the policy of the State that good manners and right conduct are indispensable for a member of a nation or society,” Ejercito said.
He also added that the subject should be taught in ‘mother tongue’ for the students to better understand the lessons.
In the House of Representatives
Explaining that GMRC was removed as one subject and integrated with other subjects when the government launched the K-12 curriculum, 1-Ang Edukasyon Party-list Representative Salvador B. Belaro. Jr. also filed House Bill No. 6705 or known as “An Act to Revive Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) as a Separate Subject in the Basic Education”.
Photo credit: Teacher PH
Under this proposal, the Department of Education (DepEd) will be tasked to formulate a ‘set menu’ of lessons that will teach students good manners and right conduct, as the subject’s name suggests.
“The lessons will promote basic tenets of respect for oneself, others, and our elders, as well as the teaching of the values of patience, perseverance, industry, honesty and good faith in dealing with other human beings,” the bill listed out.
The lawmaker said that modernization has made a lot of young people confused. Thus, GMRC lessons will put them in track.
