GMRC bill gets final House nod

The bill seeks to institutionalize GMRC as part of the Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (EsP) curriculum of the Department of Education’s K to 12 Program. (File Photo: House of Representatives of the Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA — The House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved on third and final reading a measure institutionalizing values education in the curriculum by incorporating “Good Manners and Right Conduct” (GMRC) as a subject in Kindergarten up to Grade 3.

With 225 affirmative votes, zero negative votes, and no abstention, the chamber passed House Bill 5829, or the proposed Good Manners and Right Conduct Act, which was principally authored by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.

The bill seeks to institutionalize GMRC as part of the Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (EsP) curriculum of the Department of Education’s K to 12 Program.

Cayetano pushed for the passage of the bill to strengthen the Filipinos’ common core values and inculcate universally acceptable moral standards.

The GMRC shall inculcate among the students the concepts of human dignity, respect for oneself, and giving oneself to others in the spirit of community, for the effective and holistic development of the decision-making skills of the child.

The curriculum shall also focus on the basic tenets of GMRC, such as caring for oneself, giving concern for others, according to proper respect to people, upholding discipline and order, cultivating sincerity, honesty, obedience, and above all, love for the country.

“The teaching method shall be actual or situational, rather than conceptual, thereby, allowing the studentry to directly relate to the lessons, readily put them in practice, and make such behavior commonplace,” the bill read.

The Department of Education, as the lead implementing agency, shall carry out the appropriate training for teachers and educators in Kindergarten to Grade 3 on GMRC to develop and enhance their capacity to teach the subject.

House Committee on Basic Education and Culture chairman Roman Romulo, sponsor of the bill, noted that the current values education program lacks the actual and situational activities necessary so that the students could embed the values in day-to-day life.

“Currently, they have a subject called EsP but the subject itself is being taught in a theoretical manner, meaning definitions are taught and memorized,” Romulo said.

“What we want and what we have put in this bill is that the teaching of Good Manners and Right Conduct be also actual and situational so that the learners from Kinder to Grade 3 would be able to imbibe properly the lessons for the day,” he added.