Senator Joel Villanueva stressed the importance of including Good Moral and Right Conduct (GMRC) and character building activities in the K-12 curriculum.
Villanueva said Senate Bill 860 also known as the Comprehensive Values Education Act aims to educate the whole person.
“We should put value in Values Education,” the veteran legislator said.
“There is a clamor for the revival of Good Manners and Right Conduct in the curriculum.”
“We can’t discount the fact that Values Education or Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (ESP) is already included in the DepEd curriculum, yet, there is a clamor for the revival of Good Manners and Right Conduct in the curriculum, and this clamor is indeed proper given realities that we observe in our manner of conducting the affairs of the various aspects of our daily lives as Filipinos,” the seasoned lawmaker added.
The proposed bill, now in the Senate basic education committee headed by Senator Win Gatchalian, seeks to teach students the practical and acceptable manners of conducting daily affairs according to universal norms of ethics and morality.
“Let me state that Character Building Activities are necessary components of the Comprehensive Values Education curriculum where students are given actual opportunities to practice, experience, test, and deepen whatever is taught and caught in the other aspects of learning,” the senator said.
“Activities may include immersions, exposures, outreach activities, and community service.”
According to Villanueva, activities may include immersions, exposures, outreach activities, and community service.
During the hearing, various stakeholders have also echoed their support for the passage of the bill including the National Youth Commission, Department of Education, and the Philippine National University, among others.
The Department of Education (DepEd) is expected to play a big role in the implementation of the bill once it is passed into a law.