Written by: Emilio

Edited by: Alexis

Graphics by: Zoe

Are they catchy or cluttering? Helpful or hurtful? The Philippines’ Vice President Sara Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, and the current Secretary of the Department of Education, has recently taken on classroom posters. Her mandate to strip posters from public classrooms, made on August 19, 2023, has drawn flak from Filipinos.  The mandate from the Department of Education lacks substance and reasoning and, in turn, neglects the Filipino youth who benefit from visual learning support. At ISM, faculty and students alike recognize the importance of visual aids and how their prevalence throughout the school has helped students learn. 

To start, Vice President Duterte has justified the move to ban posters in public school classrooms by saying, “The order is what it is. Take out everything on the wall and let learners focus on their studies. Classrooms and schools should be clean, orderly, and functional” (Marcelo). Taking issue with this statement, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers party-list Rep., France Castro, points out that the statement is completely invalid. Castro states, “I think the (DepEd) memo is unnecessary. Since the teachers know how to make visuals, especially for learners who really want visuals inside the classrooms … these are visual aids that help teachers and students in their teaching and learning process. These do not result in distractions or lack of focus, as what the DepEd secretary is saying” (Marcelo). Similarly, Duterte refuses to cite studies that justify her decision, calling into question the legitimacy of the mandate as it may have shortcomings in educating the youth. 

Furthermore, visual aids have been proven to be beneficial to students. Sara Tudge, ISM’s high school curriculum coordinator, points out that posters “help decode something quite complex. It’s a tool that helps with understanding.” Taking down posters on classroom walls strips students of avenues to learn visually. Ms. Tudge elaborates, “Of your generation [Generation Z], visuals have enormous power. There’s a lot of theory about different types of learners. If a student is a visual learner, visuals can help them greatly. So I wonder if [Sara Duterte] has taken that pedagogy into consideration.” 

As the world continues to grapple with the effects of the pandemic, including online learning and short attention spans in the youth, it is imperative, now more than ever, that education systems across the world adapt to these changes. Moreover, the Philippine education system was one of the hardest hit worldwide as the nation had one of the longest lockdowns and an extremely slow return to face-to-face classes. Visual aids and posters in classrooms are just one of many ways that students can learn in the post-pandemic era and the digital age. As Ms. Tudge points out, Generation Z relies more on visuals than previous generations. 

However, Ms. Tudge also recognizes that supporters of Duterte and this mandate argue that classroom posters may be a financial burden on teachers, thus, banning them will lessen teachers’ spending. This is a reasonable claim to make, as teachers may spend their own money on posters that are not always cheap. However, the Department of Education has shown that teachers’ spending is the least of their concerns compared to many other issues, with teachers advocating for salary raises for years and it being a pressing issue. As a result, the Department of Education using teachers’ spending to justify this mandate has raised eyebrows. As Rep. Castro also stated, “What really needs to be addressed by the DepEd is the class sizes and the heavy workloads of teachers” (Marcelo).

While organization and orderly spaces are important, evidence shows that removing classroom posters is not the solution to cluttering or budgetary issues. Does clutter stem from posters, or does it come from a lack of funding or teachers needing to be paid more? As this mandate has no basis seeing as visual aids are valuable, this issue is not relevant for the time. ISM students know all too well that the hundreds of posters they see in classrooms surely don’t hurt. Many students have even attributed their success in certain classes to these visual aids. ISM is a great case study of classroom posters being successful in serving as a visual asset to learning. Seeing that Vice President Duterte should reconsider her mandate and recognize the positive impact that classroom posters can have on students’ learning experiences.

Works Cited

“VP Sara Duterte Orders Removal of Wall Decorations in Classrooms.” CNN, 2023, http://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2023/8/19/Duterte-orders-removal-of-classroom-wall-decorations.html. Accessed 9 Oct. 2023.
Marcelo, Elizabeth. “Sara: It’s Final, Leave Classroom Walls Bare.” Philstar.com, Philstar.com, 21 Aug. 2023, http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/08/22/2290405/sara-its-final-leave-classroom-walls-bare. Accessed 9 Oct. 2023.