Understanding College Students’ Perspectives on Religion Classes and Importance of Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao Classes to the Philippine Public School Curriculum

Abstract

Aims: This paper aims to understand the relevance of EsP classes, given that its roots stem from religion, and the current climate of the Philippine public school education system. Study Design: Quantitative Research. Place and Duration of Study: De La Salle University – Manila, social media (I.e., Facebook and Facebook Messenger) between, between March 2024 – May 2024. Methodology: The author administrated surveys to seventy-six (76) non-secular school graduates and asked them about their experiences during religion class, and their perspectives towards EsP. Results: The major findings of the paper show that religion does have a slight hand in their perspectives towards EsP. From the gathered responses, the research shows that while learning values and morals are still important in society, the basis should be rooted on social morality rather than religion. Conclusion: Participants believed that the basis of the subject’s curriculum must be aligned with the social morality of the Filipino people, or the general common good. To them, the idea of “God” or being “Maka-Diyos” in the subject’s objectives is quite aligned with the religious views. This could potentially divide or discriminate public school students who do not identify with the country’s major religion. To them, Edukasyon ng Pagpapakatao (EsP) should focus solely on values education and ethics.