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Home » Cagayan de Oro » Local News
K to 12: Beneficial or a scourge? 4
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By Nicole J. Managbanag
Sunday, May 26, 2013

IS THE Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 or the K to 12 Act beneficial or a scourge to the Filipinos?

There are too many controversies and praises that hound this new law, however, many schools in the country have to buckle up to cope with the demands as they have already been competing globally even before the passage of the law. And in order to meet the global demands, the schools have to face the challenges that come with the K to 12 program implementation.

Gearing up for the new school year, the Department of Education (DepEd) is in its busiest as it implements the second year of the K to 12 curricula of the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 or the K-to-12 Act that President Benigno Simeon Aquino III signed into law on May 15, 2013.

Now that it has become a law, schools all over the country have to brace for the implementation and the effects of the K to 12 program.

The K to 12 is aimed at addressing the deficiency of the Philippine educational system particularly in the basic education, the elementary and high school, in order to meet the standards of the international education criteria and for the students to be at par with the students in neighboring countries.

‘Flawed framework’

In a statement posted on its website, Anakbayan, a youth group, assails that the K to 12 program is “flawed, problematic framework” which will only worsen the education crisis and “will further subject the nation’s workers to exploitation.

“The K-12, unlike what Aquino is promising, is not a solution to education and employment woes. Instead, it will further worsen and deepen the problems,” Vencer Crisostomo, national chairperson of Anakbayan, says of the newly signed law.

He says the additional years in the K to 12 program will mean additional burden to parents and students who at present are already struggling to finish the current cycle.

“At present, only 14 out of 100 finish the education cycle up to college. Additional years will mean additional drop-outs,” he said.

He also points out the lack of budget for education currently.

“Gov’t spending for education, as it is, is not enough to meet the shortages at present. The shortages will worsen and we will be faced with greater problems,” he says.

Crisostomo explains that tuition rates for tertiary education will further hike as the government’s K to 12 will also mean abandonment for tertiary education.

“We will see more budget cuts for the State Universities and Colleges and commercialization of universities. The government is set to further abandon tertiary education.”

Neo-liberal framework

But the greater problem is the program’s “problematic and flawed neoliberal framework” for labor.

“The K to 12 aims to create cheaper, more ‘exploitable’ labor. The program ensures to make more ‘semi-skilled’ youths enter the labor force as early as 18 years old, which will make the unemployment problem worse. The net effect will be lower wages for workers,” he says.

Crisostomo adds that “ultimately, this is an attack on labor and wages.”

“This program will further subject our youths to exploitation by foreign monopolies as cheap, slave labor.”

“There is wide opposition against K-12, especially as it obviously failed during its first year implementation. Students, teachers, parents and administrators are against the program,”

Series of trainings

Teachers in both private and public schools have been going through series of trainings for grade 2 and grade 8 curricula.

Elena M. Borcillo, the City Schools Division Superintendent, says the series of trainings tackle the design of the curriculum, desired outcomes of Grades 1 to 10 program, medium of instruction, time allotment, sample class program, learning resources, assessment and rating of learning outcomes and culminating activities/performances based on the Universal education system pattern.

Borcillo explains that the teachers will not be left behind as they will undergo series of trainings until the first batch of K to 12 program will be completed.

These trainings will be passed on to their subordinates until everyone gets to understand and employ the curricula properly.

Possible problems

The private schools will also have to comply with the program, no one is exempt.

But to some private schools here the K to 12 program has created much challenge in terms of employing the curricula in their current system.

Dr. Amor de Torres, Principal of Capitol University Basic Education department and also dean of the College of Education of Capitol University (CU), worries over possible problems that will be encountered in the coming years considering that by 2016 there will be no graduates in high school as the students will continue to senior high.

De Torres says that CU is not covered in the government budget for trainings and seminars for the teachers and the administration has taken the cudgel to shoulder the expenses for their teachers’ seminars on the K to 12 programs.

She said the administration has been studying the K to 12 program meticulously alongside its implementation so the university can cut the cost of expenses without sacrificing the current education program.

At present, she said CU has about 6,000 college enrolees and the income that comes from them will sustain the school’s expenses and teachers’ salaries that will surely be affected in the coming years.

CU has more than 500 elementary and high school students that could not be enough to sustain the financial needs of the school.

De Torres, however said, CU will surely surpass the transition period and come up with better plans like offering new vocational courses to sustain and perhaps save the teachers from possible unemployment.

For Xavier University (XU), its administration admits that it might not be affected much by the implementation of the K to 12 program as it has already planned ahead for possible ways to cope with the transition.

This summer, XU High School has offered a bridging program for its incoming freshmen. The program is a requirement for its high school admission. Once admitted, the student gets to proceed to Grade 8 instead of 7, thus, giving a one year reprieve to the incoming batch.

Corpus Christi School has also offered a bridging program as one of its strategies to address the implementation of the K to 12.

Tempering the effect

Reports show that over 600 administrators, school heads and faculty of member-schools of Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) are already discussing how to temper the effect of the paradigm shift in their enrolment statistics.

Based on a report, the CEAP conference will address critical issues of the coming K to 12 transition: the labor and legal implications, and the senior high school (SHS) curriculum.

At least 50 percent decline is expected in the enrolment of private Catholic colleges in 2016.

CEAP president and Adamson University president Fr. Gregorio Bañaga, C.M. says private school administrators are strategizing together on addressing the financial challenges that their schools will face given the expected decrease of enrollees starting 2016.

Under the government-enforced K to 12 program, students can already forego college after undergoing two more years in senior high school. Technical and vocational skills will already be taught to the students in their senior years to help them land a job or engage in entrepreneurial endeavors after graduating high school.

Pursuing a college degree will remain an option for the students who might want to take specialized education and training.

Freshmen enrolment is expected to generally decrease— the drop will be more felt by private schools than state universities because of the difference in tuition costs.

However, 1,345 CEAP member-schools nationwide are still supporting the shift from the previous 10-year basic education program to the new 12-year curriculum.

The K to 12 program

“[Sa K-12] tinitiyak nating sapat at kapaki-pakinabang ang kasanayang naibabahagi sa ating mga mag-aaral (With K-12 we are making sure that adequate and useful skills are being imparted to our students),” the President says.

The additional two years after fourth year high school are intended to further hone the skills and talents of students for their chosen career path in arts and sports, technical vocational, entrepreneurship or tertiary education.

Borcillo says the K to 12 program will start with the Universal Kindergarten where children aged six years are required to go to pre-school, followed by the new curriculum for grades 1 and 7 (high school) which was also first implemented last year.

Borcillo adds that grade 11 (HS year 5) will be introduced in SY 2016-2017, Grade 12 (HS Year 6) in SY 2017-2018.

The first batch of students under the program will graduate in March 2018.

She says it’s about time that the country adopt these programs, as it will decongest curriculum and pave the way for mastery and competence to enable students to better cope with the lessons.

Borcillo adds that K to 12 is better than the current outdated program which only three other countries including the Philippines still implements.

Through the program, a balanced approach to learning will enable children to acquire and master lifelong learning skills for the 21st century.

One of the advantages of the K to 12 programs is to relieve parents from the burden of spending in college for their children to land in a job.

Borcillo says the K to 12 is indeed advantageous as students who have completed the program will be equipped with skills, competencies and recognized certificates equivalent to a two-year college degree.

DepEd, CHED gear up

Meanwhile, the Commission on Higher Education Division (Ched) says it has not yet come up with programs to support the K to 12 and the gap years considering that by 2016 there will be no high school graduates who would go to college.

Dr. Juanito R. Demetrio, Ched-10 Chief Education Program Specialist, says he cannot further elaborate the CHED plans with regard to the K to 12 program since the law has just been signed recently.

However, Demetrio emphasizes that CHED has already come up with an initial accumulated policies of General Education subjects.

He explains these subjects will be accumulated to the K to 12 program and what remains in the higher education units are the professional subjects.

Demetrio says the Ched cannot do anything on the concerns of the teachers. It cannot do anything about it as 60 percent of the colleges are privately owned.

He said concerns also on reversing the curriculum and what will happen to the future of the existing faculty members and teachers in 82 colleges of Northern Mindanao will be addressed through a series of brainstorming activities from different committees.

To give hope to the college teachers teaching basic subjects, Borcillo says that the government will need 422 qualified teacher items for Cagayan de Oro.

Still, this will be the first time DepEd will massively hire teachers as it will require 60,000 applicants for the K to 12.

High hopes

Marissa Aban, a grade 2 teacher in Bagong Silang Elementary in Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte, welcomes the new K to12 program as very promising since it will equip the students with skills and knowledge even before they decide to get a college degree or immediately get a job after high school.

“This is a practical option for the students especially those who cannot pursue a college degree right away but could get a job and perhaps study at the same time,” Aban says.

However, Aban suggests that DepEd should also encourage the students to continue college else the country will end up with less college graduates in the future. She cites the cases in other countries where top positions are managed by import professionals and leaving the blue collar jobs to the citizens of that particular country.

For Antonia Balingkit of Alubijid elementary school in Misamis Oriental, the K to 12 is a revolutionary educational leap however, she worries that it might be just one of the failed programs of the country.

Balingkit points out that need for teachers to be upgraded as well to cope with the demands of providing the best learning experience to their students.

Quennie Ilogon, a mother of two, worked doubly hard to help her husband financially so that her two children can study in a private school.

Ilogon says her children deserves quality education that is why she settles them to a more expensive school rather than in public schools even if it costs her much since she is assured her children are getting the kind of education she wants for them.

4
Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on May 26, 2013.

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