DepEd K+12 Program: Are we ready enough?
The Philippine educational system will experience a historical change
for school year 2012-2013 with the implementation of the K-12. Is the
Philippines ready for this new educational challenge?
The
Enhanced K+12 Basic Education Program in the Philippines has been officially
started. It has been initiated by the Aquino administration where students will
have to undergo a new system of education.
The Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Armin Luistro unveiled
DepEd’s “Enhanced Kindergarten-Grade 12 (K+12)” program which implement this year and the final phase by school year
2016-2017. This program will require all incoming students to enroll into
two more years of basic education. Thus, the K+12 System will basically include
the Universal kindergarten, 6
years of elementary, 4 years of junior high school with an additional 2
years for senior high school.
The program aims to uplift the quality of education in
the Philippines in order for graduates to be easily employed. The program also
aims to meet the standards required for professionals who would want to work
abroad. Most importantly, the system aims to fully enhance and develop
the students in order for them to be well-prepared especially in emotional and
cognitive aspects. The graduates will be able to face the pressures
of their future workplace. DepEd estimates that to implement the senior high school program by
2016-2017, government needs about P60 billion for infrastructure, teachers and
textbooks in public schools.
Why there is a need to implement K-12 program?
It is said that the K-12
program will respond to the need of developing the country's competitiveness. The reasons why we need it because:
- "K-12 is for improvement ". Like the old saying goes, "Education is the key to success" so as the K-12 is one of the DepEd's program, that we hope would be the bridge in to our country's success. It has the initiative to develop and improve our education since it seems that our education system is far left behind from other country.
- There is an insufficient mastery of basic competencies due to congested curriculum.
- Highschool graduates are lack of basic competencies and maturity.
- Other countries view the 10 years education cycle as insufficient.
Pros & Cons in the K+12
However, not all are in favor of the K+12 Education. There are students complaining of the additional years and there are parents who are not in favor of the additional expenses. But indeed, it is an undeniable fact that additional years in the education system will really require more budgets not just from the government but from the parents as well.
The PROS (which is basically
the side of the government, well-heeled and articulate leaders from the
academe, the business community and the media):
1.
“Enhancing the quality of basic
education in the Philippines is urgent and critical.”
2.
“The poor quality of basic
education is reflected in the low achievement scores of Filipino students. One
reason is that students do not get adequate instructional time or time on
task.”
3.
International test results
consistently show Filipino students lagging way behind practically everybody
else in the world.
4.
“This quality of education is
reflected in the inadequate preparation of high school graduates for the world
of work or entrepreneurship or higher education.”
5.
“Most graduates are too young
to enter the labor force.” Since most children start Grade 1 when they are 6
years old, they do not reach the legal employable age of 18 when they graduate
from high school today.
6.
“The current system also
reinforces the misperception that basic education is just a preparatory step
for higher education.”
7.
“The short duration of the
basic education program also puts the millions of overseas Filipino workers
(OFWs), especially the professionals, and those who intend to study abroad, at
a disadvantage. Our graduates are not automatically recognized as professionals
abroad.”
8.
“The short basic education
program affects the human development of the Filipino children.” If we believe
that 17-year-old high school graduates are emotionally, psychologically, and
intellectually mature, why do we require them to get parental consent before
they get married?
The CONS (which are basically
the madlang people whose pocketbooks would be adversely impacted by the proposed
additional 2 years of basic education):
1.
Parents have to shell out more
money (for transportation and food) for the education of their children.
2.
The government does not have
the money to pay for two more years of free education, since it does not even
have the money to fully support today’s ten years. DepEd must first solve the
lack of classrooms, furniture and equipment, qualified teachers, and error-free
textbooks.
3.
We can do in ten years what
everyone else in the world takes 12 years to do. Why do we have to follow what
the rest of the world is doing? We are better than all of them. Filipinos right
now are accepted in prestigious graduate schools in the world, even with only
ten years of basic education.
4.
As far as the curriculum is
concerned, DepEd should fix the current subjects instead of adding new ones.
The problem is the content, not the length, of basic education. As an editorial
put it, we need to have better education, not more education.
5.
A high school diploma will not
get anybody anywhere, because business firms will not hire fresh high school
graduates.
6.
Every family dreams of having a
child graduate from college.
7.
While students are stuck in
Grades 11 and 12, colleges and universities will have no freshmen for two
years. This will spell financial disaster for many private Higher Education
Institutions (HEIs).
8.
The drop-out rate will increase
because of the two extra years.
While parents, teachers, and students continue to oppose the plan of the Department of Education (DepEd) to implement the Enhanced K+12 program, educators and other stakeholders expressed their support to turn the 10-year basic education cycle to 12 years.
There may be a lot of factors to
consider for the K+12 Education to succeed. But as long as we open our minds to
change and we will take it on a positive way, we will definitely attain our
most-aspired educational standards which will play a great role in our
country’s development and will therefore, uplift us from poverty.
Sources:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8HycAP7rSYKtf7SNX5OHMFeM-i_nxKt8L1scbRaKTxLS3bKk38VimAyzAoe0TGCPvVqDQfe5K-17VvTu9bhyphenhyphenL6X5SfQsA_dWZJcaW_8QM-v-IOVyup90jwTaiX6mhgFeUZYWbiu-GbD8M/s1600/k%252B12.png
