Public, private schools call for thorough review of K to 12

Private schools on Wednesday urged the government to make the implementation of the K to 12 program optional for them while a teachers’ federation seeks for a thorough review of the program.

Following the planned review of Congress of the K to 12 as announced by Speaker Alan Cayetano, the Federation of Associations of Private School Administrators (FAPSA) is pushing for the optional implementation of the education reform in private schools.

The FAPSA, which caters to issues on the operation of private schools as well as concerns on school management, noted that the offering of the K to 12 program should be made optional for students in private schools.

“FAPSA suggests making K to 12 optional for those enrolled in private schools and continue its full operation in the public schools,” said President Eleazardo Kasilag. “We are optimistic that graduates in the private schools can cope and the academic objectives are realized for those college bound,” he added.

Should the K to 12 program be made optional for private school students, Kasilag said that this will help private schools to “keep up” their operations while preventing the exodus of teachers to public schools. “The government schools have less appropriation maintaining schools [and] public school teachers always claim being burned out of load,” he added.

Earlier, Cayetano noted that many schools still lack equipment in various offerings of the Senior High School (SHS) program. Kasilag noted that even Congressman Roman Romulo, the education chair of basic education in the House of Representatives, also claimed the “non-employability of SHS graduates.”

“Aside from employability issues of K to 12 graduates, there are more reasons why the review of K to 12 is vital. For instance, he noted that the tracks and strands in SHS are simply the basic education offered in 1st year college but not well coordinated with CHED [Commission on Higher Education] nor TESDA [Technical Education Skills and Development Authority].”

“They are supposed to facilitate graduates in college but students now just switch courses making SHS track ineffective since they are not considered pre-requisite in tertiary courses as initially promised,” Kasilag said.

Kasilag also noted that making K to 12 optional for private schools is in line with the efforts to affirm the complementarity of both sectors as cited in the Constitution. “In the end, the state should recognize the complementary roles of public and private institutions in the educational system [wherein] private schools are regarded as partners as co-equal sharing resources and capabilities in promoting education,” he added.