Thank God for K-12
Thank God for K - 12,” said my daughter Hannah. It’s not what you expect to hear from a high school student who is one of the many kids who was saddled with an additional two years in “high school” after the K-12 program came into effect. Most young adults would be in a hurry to go to college and be a grown-up just like we did. The thing is, back then when we their parents were in high school, college was the next stop (if your parents could afford it). Any delay was unimaginable and tantamount to you being called a slacker or a dummy.
But with the advent of K-12 you now get extra time, you have “tracks” to choose from, and college is no longer the end all or be all of life. In my daughter’s case she was the first to admit that she was not emotionally ready to go to “college” and that she still needed to prepare mentally and emotionally for that next journey especially if she decides to study in the Netherlands and reconnect with her mother’s roots and culture. Thus her appreciation for K-12.
But there are far more benefits from the K-12 program than time to mature. One good example was how the DepEd program was implemented in the province of Misamis Oriental and is now giving positive alternatives to high school students who may not have the means to go to college or need to work after high school to help their families.
When the K-12 program was rolled out, the schools division superintendent for “Mis-Or” Cherry Mae L. Limbaco, PhD, followed the directions of DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones to “make education accessible, relevant, and liberating. In order to do this, SDS Limbaco and her associates needed to provide educational programs that were aligned with their environment and location, as well as the requirements of potential employers and existing and future business possibilities for high school graduates wanting to be entrepreneurs.
To make sure that the programs met everyone’s needs as well as expectations, SDS Limbaco and the DepEd officers in MisOr forged a memorandum of agreement with 23 mayors to develop and support K-12 since the local governments would be funding part of the added cost from their already limited IRAs or funds. The mayors in turn requested companies in their localities to partner with DepEd in developing the programs, provide training or learning opportunities or internships, so that when students graduate they already have an introduction or are familiar with the culture or system of the companies they learned from and might be employed by.
As far as the businesses or companies were concerned, its hard to say no to mayors especially when they are the ones who issue business permits, but it is even harder to say no when you are presented a great opportunity for your own corporate social responsibility project or CSR that benefits you by providing possible candidates for employment.
As a result some of the many educational programs they chose to offer were along a maritime track with the Misamis Oriental Institute of Science and Technology, Accountancy and Business Management in Xavier Academy, technical vocational specializations like “shielded metal arc welding” (SMAW) with national certificates from TESDA as well as residential electrical installation and maintenance (EIM) or what is generally called the electrician’s course as well as a technical vocational course for automotive repair. In today’s reality where so many of our skilled and blue collar workers have left the country and most kids want to go into “management” or IT, these course or track offerings are as relevant and needed. Given the provincial setting of DepEd MisOr and proximity to the sea as well as commercial developments, such courses will undoubtedly prepare graduates for immediate employment or will have the foundational skills to put up shops.
Aside from raising up mainline technical vocational graduates, the division also made sure that they included basic culinary courses as well as personal care (massage – reflexology – etc.) were available in order to train up “service providers” who might want to be in the tourism industry which is booming in the region. We take such skills and services for granted but Filipinos love to be pampered and 90 percent of professionals and their families call for a massage or nail care service at least once a month if not more.
These are just a glimpse of how K-12 is changing general education in one area of the country, but it is a change that addresses the reality that not everybody can, wants or needs to go to college. Not everybody can or wants to be a white collared worker or company executive and majority of Filipinos live way away from Metro Manila. But thanks to K-12, students now have real choices and a real good start toward being skilled, employable and contributing something to their family and the country.
* * * NO NOTICE! There is nothing more frustrating than following the system only to discover that the system is out of order. Last Wednesday Nov. 29, I left Pasig really early because my car plates would be violating the number coding system by 7 a.m. The problem was I had to go to the SLEX-MATES office which opens at 8:30 to secure an ETC sticker so I can pay toll electronically. The only solution was to stop by Petron, have breakfast and get back on the road in time for the ETC office to open at the inter-connector toll booth after the Turbina area.
Everything worked out and I had the first parking slot for the morning. I walked in only to find out that they ran out of stickers and won’t be replenished until the first or second week of December. Aside from losing an hour from my working day, I find it frustrating to discover that a company that promotes Electronic Toll Collection can’t even manage to maintain their stock levels for the necessary stickers. At the very least they should have billboards or signages advising would be customers that there are no stickers available! Please don’t waste our precious time.
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