Tinio backs faculty groups vs CHED GE overhaul: "Gutting humanities, risking job losses, repeating K-12's displacement disaster"

PRESS RELEASE

Rep. Antonio Tinio
ACT Teachers Party-list
Deputy Minority Leader
May 6, 2026

Tinio backs faculty groups vs CHED GE overhaul: “Gutting humanities, risking job losses, repeating K-12’s displacement disaster”

ACT Teachers Representative and Deputy Minority Leader Antonio Tinio expressed support for faculty organizations and educators opposing the Commission on Higher Education’s proposed overhaul of the college General Education (GE) curriculum, warning that the plan will further weaken humanities and liberal education while putting thousands of teachers at risk of displacement.

Faculty groups have raised alarm over CHED’s draft, which would cut mandatory GE from 36 units to 18, and fold major humanities and social science disciplines—such as philosophy, ethics, literature, art appreciation, and history—into broader skills-based courses. CHED is targeting implementation by academic year 2027–2028.

“Faculty groups are correct to sound the alarm. Cutting GE in half and removing standalone humanities courses as mandated subjects will inevitably shrink departments, reduce teaching loads, and threaten the job security of teachers—especially in private universities where employment is directly tied to units and assigned loads,” Tinio said.

“This proposal treats higher education as mere market integration and workforce packaging. Colleges and universities are not factories for compliance and productivity. A genuine general education must cultivate critical thinking, historical understanding, ethical reasoning, and appreciation of culture—things that cannot be ‘compressed’ without being effectively erased,” he added.

Tinio stressed that CHED’s claim of “reframing” does not change the concrete effect of the draft: fewer GE units, fewer guaranteed humanities offerings, and a narrower space for institutional identity and academic freedom.

“CHED can call it ‘reframing’ all it wants, but when you remove mandated humanities disciplines and leave only a token space for institutional GE, the effect is indistinguishable from removal,” Tinio said.

The ACT Teachers lawmaker also echoed the warning raised at the CHED hearing that the proposed overhaul fails to provide clear safeguards for teachers’ employment and fails to spell out funding for retraining and transition support—repeating the harmful pattern seen during the K to 12 rollout.

“We have seen this movie before in K-12: teachers were displaced, workloads were restructured, and the burden was pushed down to schools and employees. The government cannot promise absorption and retraining while offering no clear funding, no enforceable protection, and no safety net,” Tinio said.

Tinio further pointed to concerns that CHED must comply with the Philippine Education Act of 1982 (Batas Pambansa Blg. 232), which requires coordination with the Department of Labor and Employment when curriculum changes affect teachers’ employment.

“CHED must meet its legal obligations under BP 232. Any curriculum redesign that has employment consequences requires serious tripartite engagement, transparency, and binding protections—not vague assurances,” Tinio said.

Nagpahayag din si Tinio ng mariing pakikiisa sa mga guro at kawani sa kolehiyo at unibersidad. “Tinututulan ng mga guro ang panukalang GE overhaul dahil gigibain nito ang humanities at magbubunga ng tanggalan at demotion sa trabaho. Hindi dapat gawing collateral damage ang mga guro sa anumang ‘reframing’ na walang malinaw na proteksyon at pondo,” ani Tinio.

“Hindi puwedeng alisin o siksikin ang Pilosopiya, Etika, Panitikan, Sining, at Kasaysayan na parang dekorasyon lang. Bahagi ito ng paghubog ng makatao, makabayan, at mapanuring mamamayan,” dagdag niya.

Tinio called on CHED to immediately junk the current draft, widen consultations with faculty organizations and discipline-based expert panels, and present a comprehensive transition plan that guarantees no displacement and provides funding for retraining and employment protection.