Aquino’s term cited as ‘golden age’ of education

The K to 12 Program, more classrooms, increased enrollment in public schools, computerization – these will be the landmarks of the Aquino administration in the education sector.

For the Department of Education (DepEd) there is no other administration that has given as much support to the education sector other than that of President Aquino.

Days before Aquino’s sixth and final State of the Nation

Address (SONA) on Monday, July 27, Education Secretary Armin Luistro gave latest updates on the status of basic education in the country, DepEd’s accomplishments over the past five years, and the progress of the K to 12 Program which is considered the flagship program of the Aquino administration for education.

Of all the education reforms in the country, K to 12 Program is undoubtedly the biggest and most controversial, so far.

Increasing budget Luistro said that the Aquino administration has exerted its best efforts to address shortages by allotting the biggest budget for the education sector. “There’s no doubt that in our history, this is the administration that has allocated the biggest budgets for education,” he stressed.

Luistro noted that since Aquino started his term, the budget for education has always been increased. In 2010, only had 74.75 billion but in 2011, it was increased to 207.05 billion. In 2012, DepEd’s budget was 238.44 billion and

292.20 billion in 2013. The years 2014 and 2015 were also very historic for DepEd when the national government allotted 307.88 billion and 364.66 billion, respectively. Should the Congress approve the proposed national budget for 2016, DepEd will once get the biggest chunk with 433.67 billion.

Luistro also noted that the biggest increase in budget for education was only possible during the Aquino administration. “What used to be the 8,800 government subsidy for each student in public school is now at 17,300,” he said. “If the budget is approved next year, our subsidy for each student is 20,600 per student,” he added.

More children in school Luistro said that one of biggest accomplishments of the education sector during this term is increasing the number of enrollees in public schools – particularly in kinder. From 18,742,086 students in public schools in 2008, the number of students enrolled in both elementary and secondary levels in public schools increased to 21,042,250 students in 2014.

Teachers For teachers, Luistro noted that a total of 128,105 have already been hired from 2010 to 2014. For 2015 – with the additional 39,000 teacher items which are now being processed – the total of teacher items created would be over 167,000. “If we add the additional 60,000 teachers for 2016, we will have a total of at least 227,000 teacher items created by this education president,” he said.

Classrooms From July 2010 to December 2013, Luistro said that the Aquino administration was able to construct 66,813 classrooms to address the 2010 shortage. By 2014-2015, he said that the total number of classrooms constructed would be around 142,000. “If the 2016 is passed, the total number of funded classrooms would be more than 185,000 nationwide,” he said.

He noted that there will always be a need for additional classrooms because enrolment rates also vary every year. Thus, ideally, “at least 20,000 classrooms should be built yearly to replace the old classrooms.”

Computerization Computerization of 46,000 schools, Luistro said, was also prioritized during Aquino’s term. “Before the Aquino administration, there were some schools that have computers but a very insignificant number,” he said. Before Aquino’s term ends, he noted that 100 percent of schools will have one computer package each. Energizing schools without electricity – around 6,000 to date – is also a priority of this government.

When it comes to learning materials, Luistro said that DepEd is gearing towards digitization. “This is a very important component of education, we’re moving from the hard copies of textbooks into an education that allows us to maximize the use of technology,” he added.

K to where? Of all the education reforms in the country, K to 12 Program is undoubtedly the biggest and most controversial, so far.

“We’re on the fifth year of implementation, we’re anticipating already what we need to do for Grades 11 and 12,” Luistro said. The budget for 2016, he noted, includes funds for the Senior High School (SHS) which will be fully implemented starting next school year. “This will ensure the continuity of the program because it will include budgets not only for grades 5 and 11 but also for grades 6 and 12,” he explained.

In the next 10 months, Luistro said that the focus of DepEd will be to ensure the smooth implementation of the SHS or the additional two years in the country’s basic education cycle.

DepEd is currently fulfilling all the needed SHS requirements before it is fully rolled out nationwide starting SY 2016-2017. “Essentially, what we need to do now would be the classrooms so we’re bidding them out,” he said. If there will be no failed bids, he expressed confidence that the required classrooms will be constructed as planned.

Luistro admitted that the sheer volume of on-going projects is difficult to deal with. “The price of these achievements is that we ran out of engineers and that adds up to…it’s harder for us to do the ocular and program of works because the number of schools to be built has increased,” he said. After the classrooms, DepEd will focus on bidding out learner modules for SHS. “We need to make sure that this will be in place,” he noted.

For SY 2016-2017, Luistro noted that 1.2 million grade 10 students will graduate from public schools and around 4,000 will graduate from private schools or at least at least 1.6 million incoming SHS students. “We also included at least 400,000 slots for those who graduated prior to the implementation of the K to 12 program who will be interested to take up SHS,” he said.

To ensure that all graduating Grade 10 students will be able to take up SHS, Luistro said that a voucher system will be in place to assist those who wish to enroll in private schools that will offer SHS. To date, there are around 2,700 allowed to offer SHS comes 2016. The government subsidy through the vouchers will range from 8,750 to 2,500 depending on the location of the SHS will enroll in.

Asked what will happen to the continuity of the program when Aquino’s term ends by June 2016, Luistro noted that it’s all in the hands of the next administration. “We already have the K to 12 law, the only remaining missing element to ensure continuity is electing officials that will continue the program,” he said. The continuity of K to 12, he stressed, “is also dependent on the teachers and other school personnel.”