EDITORIAL - K To 12 For All: (The Philippine Star) - May 17, 2013 - 12:00am
EDITORIAL - K To 12 For All: (The Philippine Star) - May 17, 2013 - 12:00am
EDITORIAL - K To 12 For All: (The Philippine Star) - May 17, 2013 - 12:00am
304SHARES000
Rosalinda L. Orosa (The Philippine Star) - May 17, 2013 - 12:00am
For millions of Filipinos, kindergarten and other preparatory courses before first grade used to give children with financial
means an early edge in academic achievements over their underprivileged peers. With the enactment of Republic Act
10533, kindergarten is now free for all Filipinos and required for entry to first grade.
The next step is for authorities to ensure that poverty and other problems will not keep parents from sending their children to
kindergarten and keeping them in school. The new law also makes the mother tongue the medium of instruction up to third
grade, with English being phased in at fourth grade. This should help discourage pupils from dropping out due to language
comprehension difficulties, although the bigger reason for leaving school is poverty.
While basic education is free and compulsory, studies show that the dropout rate remains high, starting in third grade and
increasing in high school. Even if education is free, millions of families cannot afford even the daily transportation fare, food
allowance and miscellaneous expenses for keeping a child in school. With two years added to secondary education, many
students may fail to get a high school diploma.
The next step is for authorities to ensure that poverty and other problems will not keep parents from sending their children to
kindergarten and keeping them in school. The new law also makes the mother tongue the medium of instruction up to third
grade, with English being phased in at fourth grade. This should help discourage pupils from dropping out due to language
comprehension difficulties, although the bigger reason for leaving school is poverty.
While basic education is free and compulsory, studies show that the dropout rate remains high, starting in third grade and
increasing in high school. Even if education is free, millions of families cannot afford even the daily transportation fare, food
allowance and miscellaneous expenses for keeping a child in school. With two years added to secondary education, many
students may fail to get a high school diploma.
Under RA 10533, students will be prepared to pursue either vocational courses, which offer quick employment opportunities,
or regular college courses. The government can fine-tune the program to reduce the current mismatch between skills and
job requirements in many local industries.
A lot of time, effort and resources went into the development of the K to 12 program, now embodied in RA 10533 or the
Basic Education Program law. The measure is meant to upgrade Philippine education, whose quality has deteriorated in
recent decades, and improve national competitiveness. Every effort must be made to ensure the success of its
implementation.
K-12, however, is seen as a necessary adjustment if Philippine education is to keep up with more competitive nations, which
allot the same number of years to elementary and high school education.
There are valid concerns that the additional year in grade school and another in high school will be wasted on redundant
lessons. The public will hold education officials to their assurance that this will not be the case. Teachers displaced by the
additional two years must also be given assistance.
Under K-12, kindergarten has also been made mandatory and universally free in public schools. This allows children even
from low-income households to catch up with their more affluent counterparts who spend two or three years in kiddie or
preparatory schools before entering first grade.
K-12 is a key component of efforts to improve the quality of Philippine education. Over half a century ago, the Philippines
was considered a regional leader in education. A combination of factors, among them insufficient resources plus the exodus
of qualified teachers who wanted better paying jobs abroad, led to a progressive deterioration in the quality of education.
National competitiveness has been the casualty. In recent years, efforts have been made to correct the slide. The outgoing
Aquino administration has substantially addressed shortages in textbooks, school buildings and rooms, and lured more
teachers by raising compensation. Efforts are being undertaken to reverse the deterioration in English proficiency.
K-12 is among the more dramatic schemes to boost the quality of education. The incoming Duterte administration has
expressed support for the scheme, which aims to improve the abilities of the nation’s most valuable resource, its people.
The nation must give K-12 a chance and cooperate in making it work.
Despite the praises heaped upon the program by the administration, we know that the K-12 program of the US has not
even been able to improve the basic education system; with lesser resources here, this program will be a challenge to the
future.
More so because other Asian countries are putting premium on education to become a force to contend with in the global
market of goods, services, and people.
In a special chapter of Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2015, the Asian Development Bank’s flagship annual
statistical publication, it took note of the increase in government spending for education in developing Asia – the
Philippines included.
For 2014, the report said, government in developing Asia spent over $1.2 trillion on education and $6.9 billion by
households. For sure, the Philippines rank among the biggest spenders.
“However, with economies in the region aspiring to hasten the process of structural transformation, more advanced
cognitive and non-cognitive skills— involving greater abstract thinking, writing and communication tasks in addition to
working in teams—as well as technical skills are needed. For jobs in high-productivity sectors, such as manufacturing and
many services, a quality secondary or tertiary education degree is especially important,” the report said.
The secondary is where the stumbling blocks are, the K-12 that while being painted to be all-set to bring out students who
have the skills needed for employment even without a tertiary education, is just that, a painting. We are still faced with a
good number of students dropping out, and we haven’t even accounted for the students forced to drop out because of all
the calamities that regularly visit our country. Many high school graduates from the overcrowded public schools are found
lacking in reading comprehension and math skills.
Too many graduates unprepared to go on higher education and even technical vocation. The K-12 is said to cure all those
deficiencies – when there is not even enough number of teachers trained for senior high school where students are
supposed to learn the employable skills. Acknowledging large strides in expanding education access, the report still noted
that skills-wise, many parts remain weak because of the “gaps in both the quantity and quality of education provided”.
“To meet current and future labor market demands and maintain human capital competitiveness in an increasingly
globalized world, fostering cognitive and non-cognitive skills is essential. These skills set the foundation to easily acquire
new technical skills that enable adaptation to changing labor market and occupational demands,” the report said.
While technical skills are primarily important, countries are still advised not to overlook cognitive and non-cognitive skills
because technical skills are largely dependent on the industrial structure of the labor market, which in the past decade is
fast changing and automating.