Gov’t is ready for K-to-12 program – PNoy
President Aquino shared Education Secretary Armin Luistro’s optimism on the success and timeliness of the controversial K-to-12 basic education curriculum during the K-to-12 Summit yesterday to mark the second anniversary of the enactment of Republic Act No. 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Paay City.
The President assured that the government has adequate funds to meet the requirements of the flagship education reform law such as more classrooms and textbooks as well as readied safety nets for teachers who may be displaced by program.
“Despite all our initiatives, there are some who still claim we are not ready. My response to them: We are ready,” Aquino said.
“The K to 12 program is a product of years of planning and consultation with our partners in the education sector. Among them are the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Commission on Higher Education, Department of Labor and Employment and Department of Trade and Industry, lawmakers, local governments, private sector, and other stakeholders,” he added.
The government is facing a number of lawsuits questioning the constitution- ality of Republic Act No. 10533 that adds two years of senior high school to the 10-year basic education curriculum.
Some groups have asked Supreme Court to stop the implementation of the program due to lack of consultation and expected massive displacement of teachers and other workers in higher education institutions.
‘No stopping K to 12’ Luistro said that there is no stopping the implementation of the K to 12 Program, particularly the Senior High School (SHS) Program which will be implemented nationwide starting School Year (SY) 2016-2017.
“I can take the criticisms on K to 12, but I cannot take claims from some quarters claiming that the goals of the program cannot be achieved,” he said.
Aside from Luistro, DepEd Assistant Secretary for Regional Operations Lino Rivera, Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA) Director Joel Villanueva and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Dinky Soliman and other heads of partner agencies also attended the event to celebrate the milestones of the biggest education reform in the country.
Deprived rights?
Claiming that the scheme deprives the youth the right to proper education, critics of the K-to-12 program maintained that the only beneficiaries to new curriculum are profiteering schools, which are expected to have a huge windfall as public schools could not handle the flood of senior high school students next year.
“While most of our students, parents, and teachers are bewailing the full implementation of the K-to-12 program, greedy school owners are the only ones who seem happy, as they would have an opportunity to further increase profits through the added years of schooling and other side effects of the new curriculum,” party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said.
Ridon noted how the DepEd is seemingly plotting to force more students to enroll in private schools in the final roll-out year of the K-to-12.
DepEd earlier reported to Congress that the country’s public school system can only accommodate between 800,000 to 1.1 million senior high school students next year, despite the fact that the department expects up to 1.6 million students will be enter senior high school next year.
“DepEd expects that the remaining 800,000 or so students will be absorbed by what they call as ‘non-DepEd schools.’ Many of such schools are private education institutions that charge high tuition rates,” Ridon said.
The lawmaker noted that in some cities in National Capital Region like Makati, Caloocan and Parañaque, only private schools are allowed to offer senior high school. (with a report from Chito A. Chavez)