Challenges of the K to 12 system

THE K to 12 curriculum in the Philippines has long been a topic of debate, with some advocating for its benefits and others highlighting its disadvantages. The pandemic impacted hugely on the educational system globally, with the Philippines having to drastically tweak its system, employing technology (tablets, internet and WiFi connectivity) for public health and safety.

However, the literacy rate and comprehension of students vastly decreased, leading to the need of the Department of Education (DepEd) to re-evaluate the learning system as a whole.

Here are some commonly cited challenges of the K to 12 curriculum in the Philippines:

Longer schooling

The K to 12 system adds two more years to the basic education of students, which means a longer time in school before entering college or the workforce.

Additional financial burden

The additional years of schooling result in increased financial needs for families as they have to support their children for a longer period before they can start working. Purchasing tablets for students, especially during the pandemic, further exacerbated the economic burden of families.

Capacity issues

The implementation of the K to 12 curriculum has posed challenges to educational institutions in terms of infrastructure, resources and teacher training, leading to capacity issues in accommodating the extended education system. The country could not address the sorry state of technology. Lacking learning aids like tablets, bandwidth availability, and other technical issues and concerns further led to the degradation of the quality of education.

Unemployment concerns

Critics argue that the K-12 curriculum may not necessarily address the issue of unemployment as it extends the time before students can enter the workforce without guaranteeing job opportunities upon completion. Also, companies prefer to employ college graduates over high school finishers to cope with the increased pressure on management and administration of the respective core competencies of their businesses, which non-college graduates are not capable of, nor are trained for. In turn, especially for the labor-intensive industries like construction, it has resulted in decreased rates of labor employment. The companies had to stay afloat before being able to hire more workers.

Curriculum alignment

There have been concerns about the alignment of the K to 12 curriculum with the needs of industries and the global job market, with some critics questioning its practicality and relevance. Challenges in job matching as against skills training increased in time as well.

Transition challenges

Early on,the transition to the K to 12 curriculum presented challenges for both students and teachers as they adapt to changes in the educational system and curricular requirements. Today, the rapidly evolving technologies make the country lag more behind. Keeping up to date with technology and its infrastructure remains to be the biggest challenge to our progress as a country. Whether we like it or not, we remain as a failed agricultural country because we are unable to keep abreast of technology development, where we used to excel. It seems like a distant past now. Tweaking the educational system now (and I believe we should) will involve additional adaptation and will take time for adjustments to settle down.

Also, the lack of training for work ethic in the labor culture is glaringly absent. A case in point: I hired a driver for my wife who is wheelchair-bound due to a leg fracture. After the initial interviews, I decided to hire the driver-applicant on a three-month