On moving up and graduation rites I

N THE LIGHT OF THE DEPART MENT OF EDUCATION's (DepEd) pronouncement that graduation rites should be simple and austere, schools have begun their respective rites.

The Revised Basic Education curriculum therefore prescribes that pupils in Grades 6 and 10 move up instead of graduate to the next level, up to Grade 12, in line with the K-12 innovation.

In Mabalacat City, particularly, I came across a program announcing the commencement exercises of Camachiles Resettlement Elementary School, showing the movers' oath their photos and the school principal's message.

Other schools also bring out their own design of their program of activities. April is dotted with schedules of moving up ceremonies and graduation rites like in Mabalacat City College where several courses are offered and graduates from this college prepare for their eventual initiation to the labor force.

I've observed that even Grade 11 students now prepare theses and I had the opportunity to critique papers of students prepared for submission to their advisers. Except for some grammatical lapses, the papers showed depth in research and study and they were substantial enough in form and content.

K-12 seems to be bearing fruit: the subjects are advanced in scope, compared to years back and each student had a choice of tracks, whether in humanities and social studies or business and math. Anyway, the approach spawned by the K-12 innovation is well beyond the reach of the average student. It is confident to say challenging and students are much more equipped with knowledge and learning than years of teaching back in the 1990s. It is no surprise, therefore, that present-day students learn more of the different forms of government and the methods or ways of changing them as in the proposed shift to federalism from the present unitary form.

***** The students of year 2017 and beyond will face more challenges in their academic load and this is welcome news to them. They are aware that to compete globally effectively, they have to be weaned from the old, historic approaches to subjects and courses and be initiated into the advanced realms of Science and Mathematics and Business.

After all, who could have imagined our frontier efforts to even explore the possibility of living in Mars, a distant planet now the subject of extensive research and explorations? With the availability of more advanced technology and equipment nothing is untouchable.

***** Holy week rituals. Next week marks the beginning of the holiest week of the Catholic Church's activities: the Holy Week, a time for reflection, penance and prayers. For others, it is just a long weekend, a much-deserved respite.