Crazy times indeed.
President Rodrigo Duterte recently signed into law Republic Act No. 11476, which institutionalizes Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC), and Values Education in the K-12 curriculum.
Replacing the current Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao curriculum, the law read: "The Department of Education (DepEd) shall introduce GMRC through clear, distinct, specific, and concrete character building activities such as role playing in the classroom, community immersion activities, teacher-parent collaborative learning activities, school-initiated values formation activities, simulated activities, and other forms of experiential learning."
Basically, GMRC will be integrated into kindergartens' daily learning activities and taught as a separate subject from Grades 1 to 6. On the other hand, Grades 7 to 10 students will have a separate subject for Values Education, which will also be part of the Grade 11 and 12's respective curriculums.
The bill's principal author, Senator Majority Leader Juan Miguel, was quoted: "The signing of the GMRC and Values Education Act is really timely. I hope the Department of Education can work on the [implementing rules and regulations] in time for the opening of classes come August.
"With many schools set on implementing distance learning, it’s going to be even more vital that we give our students formative guidance through GMRC and Values Education."
