Another deception regarding K to 12
The Department of Education recently brandished results of a new Social Weather Stations survey that it partially funded as if to show those who oppose its controversial K to 12 program how wrong they are in their opposition.
But the truth of the matter is, DepEd’s brandishing of the survey results only proved yet once again how unforthright and deceptive the department tends to get when dealing with the K to 12 program, which adds two more years to the 10-year basic education curriculum.
Quoting from the survey results, the DepEd says majority of Filipinos (65 percent) think K to 12 would better prepare students for work or college and that 59 percent believe students would complete senior high as it is like taking two years of college in high school.
What the DepEd, headed by the religious Bro. Armin Luistro, is not saying is that there has never been any argument about these issues. There has never been any opposition to what K to 12 is all about or what it hopes to accomplish. K to 12 is good. Everybody is agreed on that.
What the opposition is all about, and which Luistro adamantly refuses to see, is the timing of the implementation. What no survey has dared to find out is the overwhelming belief of an overwhelming number of Filipinos that K to 12 is being rushed despite the lack of preparation.
You do not need a survey to know that the country is simply not prepared to come under such an ambitious project. The quality of Philippine education is at an all-time low. Of what use is K to 12 if there are no quality teachers to teach it and no classrooms to teach it in?
What DepEd should have done first is make teaching attractive as a profession. But how can you attract the best assets to carry out such an important program as K to 12 if you not only pay teachers peanuts but also pay them only when you can.
Once DepEd attracts the best minds in the country, it can then start building enough classrooms to teach K to 12 in. Then it must make sure all instructional materials and textbooks are 100 percent error-free. Again, it is not the number of years but the quality of education.
Only when quality is assured can K to 12 be put into motion and have a realistic chance of achieving what it is cracked up to be. But for God’s sake why rush it now, unless its only purpose is make the Aquino administration look like it has done something.