THE K-12 ENCOUNTERS, THE PROGRAM PROTESTATION

FIDEL C. BULANADI

A lot of Filipinos would agree that actualizing the K-12 system in the Philippines would result in more young Filipinos equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to enter the workforce.

Our students in Grade 10 are on their final year in Junior High School as they set to enter Senior High in 2016 upon the full implementation of RA 10533, considering them the first batch to engage on the additional two years of basic education made compulsory by the new law.

Despite petitions having been filed at the supreme court to prevent the implementation of the K-12, the Department of Education (DepEd) is certain that the new curriculum which covers Kindergarten, six years of Primary Education, four years of Junior High School, and two years of Senior High School- will enhance the quality of education in the Philippines, and they are equally confident that they are prepared for the pioneering batch of Senior High School students in June 2016.

The challenge we face now is not whether we should or shouldn’t, but whether we can or can’t.

So what is exactly the nature of the K-12 curriculum and how does it differ from the previous 10-year Basic Education Curriculum?

Aside from the additional two years of Senior High School (SHS), the K-12 totally restructures the basic education system in the country, aiming to provide some solutions to the widespread unemployment of the youth. The whole point of the entire K12 reform is to answer the needs of about 30 million young people who have not finished Fourth Year High School. Of the out-of-school youth of employable age, more than six million are unemployed, primarily because they do not have skills that employers want. Other countries even viewed that the 10 year cycle is insufficient due to the fact that graduates are not emotionally mature to handle employment and entrepreneurship.

The two years of SHS consists of two parts: Track Subjects- covering the development of skills for immediate employment or entrepreneurship, and Core subjects to ensure college readiness of K-12 graduates. It also facilitates four career tracks for students to choose from: Academic, Technical-Vocational-Livelihood, Sports and Arts and Design.

The four different career tracks provide flexibility. Depending on the goals of the student as well as the community and industry in a particular region, the Track Subject Curriculum enhances the value and relevance of high school diploma. Equally important, the Core Subject Curriculum, remaining invariable for all schools provides an opportunity for everyone to be equally well-prepared for a college education academical l y.

Seeing all of these, one could assume that K-12 has benefits that could help in the improvement of the quality of education basing from the cases of the different developed countries like United States, Australia, Britain and Canada.

With the awarding of TESDA National Certificates at the high school level, K-12 students- now of employable age upon graduation would already qualify for decent entry level jobs. This also increases the financial capability of high school graduates to pursue advancement through higher education. It is true that specialization and improvement of skills which the K-12 education system offers is highly recommended.

Moreover, the SHS curriculum also addresses the redundancy of college level general education programs, which presently covers materials that should have already been mastered at the pre- university level. This can result in higher education institutions more focused on the specifics of various degrees, rather that consuming so much of the first two years remedying the inadequate competencies of the old 10-year program.

Inevitably, there are also downside implications resulting from this shift of the education system. Are we ready to bring the K-12 vision of progressive and transformative education to reality?

With the introduction of the K-12 there would be an increase in student population, translating into a requirement for additional classrooms for each additional year level. Another pressing issue is the retrenchment of teaching and non teaching college personnel, about 25,000 of them.

DepEd however says it has closed the gap of classroom shortage in 2010 and has built 86, 000 classrooms between 2010 and 2014. An additional 27, 499 classrooms are on lineto be constructed to cover the SHS implementation this year.

Deped has announced that it will be hiring 39,000 additional teachers to meet the personnel requirements of the program.

But, besides student and teacher concerns, there is a third factor: the additional costs to parents for food and transportation expenses to send their children two or more years of high school. The current plan is for DepEd to subsidize the cost of private tuition- but this is one of the most controversial. Many parents and others complain that the proposed subsidizes are too low with education cost they might find impossible to meet.

All this complaints are valid. Until recently, our school system has suffered much neglect in many areas including chronic shortage of classrooms, likewise the low pay our public school teachers receive.

We should not ignore the serious challenges of shifting to K-12 program. At the same time we should seize upon its very real potential to improve the lives of everyone. K-12 is obviously a work in progress that will go through many changes as it is implemented. There are many problems to be fixed in education and we should pursue these solutions with zeal. To do so means dealing with the many challenges of K-12 rather than simply putting them on hold.

— oOo—

I at Justino Sevilla High School

The author is Master Teacher