Teaching good manners to kids a challenge under Duterte —teachers’ group

Teaching good manners and right conduct to students is a "challenge" these days amid the blatant use of foul language by the country's top officials, including President Rodrigo Duterte, a teachers' group said Wednesday.

"We can imagine the confusion in our pupils’ heads," Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines president Benjamin Valbuena said.

"On one hand, we teach the values of respect to others, the law and the State, and on the other hand, they see the president on national TV using the language of killing, misogyny and vulgarity, and other top officials following suit as if it is a fad."

He then urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to "organize a special class for our national leaders to teach good manners and right conduct."

ACT made the statement after the DepEd announced that it would place more focus on Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) to students to compensate for the changing environment.

Valbuena said apart from good manners, there is also a need to strengthen "the teaching about the values of truth, justice and human rights," which it added should be "discussed within the context of our history and current society."

"This will help our pupils to better discern the right from the wrong," the group said.

Valbuena also said there is a general need to overhaul the education curriculum to gear it towards national development instead of producing "meek and cheap labor for foreign capital."

In the course of focusing on training technical skills and specializations, he said the DepEd weakened the education on "history, social science and humanities which are core to developing analytical skills." —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News