Parents, groups free to ask SC to stop K to 12 – Palace

Organizations and parents opposed to the implementation of the K to 12 basic education program are free to seek the help of the Supreme Court to stop its implementation, Malacañang said yesterday.

Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. of the Presidential Communications Operations Office said the Aquino administration respects the right of citizens to express their sentiments and opposition to public policies.

“They can go to the court if they really believe that this is the best way to express their position,” Coloma said in an interview over state-run radio station dzRB.

Coloma issued the statement following threats made by groups that they would be forced to seek the judiciary’s help in stopping the implementation of K to 12 program in June 2016.

K to 12 adds two more years in high school. Under the program, students will have to attend two years of senior high school before proceeding to college. Because of this, there will be no college students for the first two years of implementation.

More than 85,000 professors have expressed fear of being jobless as universities and colleges will lose 500,000 freshman college enrollees and more than 300,000 sophomore college enrollees once the implementation of the senior high school program starts in 2016.

Many groups and parents oppose the implementation of the new education program as this will result in more financial burden to parents because of the two additional school years, and loss of jobs.

Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns secretary-general Kharlo Manano said the K to 12 program is not the answer to having quality education.

“It’s not surprising that many poor children could not finish school. The most common reason is their inability to pay for school expenses. The additional two years under the K to 12 program carries additional cost to parents,” Manano said. Citing data from the National Union of Students in the Philippines, Manano said there are 1.5 million dropouts and 15 million out-of-school youth in the country to date.

“If the government is serious in its efforts to improve the quality of education, it should immediately address the shortage in facilities in public schools, teachers as well as the availability of decent jobs for Filipinos,” he said.

But Malacañang maintained that the government has anticipated the effects of K to 12.

The Palace said students have the option to take vocational courses, and the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Labor and Employment ( DOLE)’ s attached agency Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) have prepared for this.

Professors who will lose their jobs will also be taken care of by DepEd, CHED and DOLE.

“DepEd will be hiring around 30,000 and we will be prepared to prioritize those who choose to apply to our senior high school program. Many private HEIs are already preparing and have requested DepEd for a permit to open a secondary high school that could further bring down the number of affected faculty,” Coloma said.

“There is also a proposal from CHED for a stabilization fund which could be tapped by private higher educational institutions during the transition,” he added.