CONSIDERED the biggest education reform in the history of the Philippine’s, the Department of Education (DepEd) is certain that the new curriculum, the K-to-12 Program—which covers Kindergarten, six years of primary education, four years of junior high school, and two years of senior high school—is the best solution to put quality in the Philippine education system.
With the implementation of RA 10533—An Act Enhancing the Philippine Basic Education System—-Grade 10-completers this year will not be accepted into college unless they finish Grades 11 and 12. And high-school diplomas will only be issued to graduates of Grade 12. And with the dismissal by the Supreme Court on March 15, the bid of petitioners to stop the implementation of the 12-year basic education program, all systems go K to 12 on June 2016.
BusinessMirror gets the side of the (DepEd) through Undersecretary Tomasito Umali. Umali writes his weekly column for the paper’s Education section, “Edu-Action.”
Business Mirror (BM): What is the Senior High School (SHS) Program from the perspective of DepEd?
The SHS Program is the portion of the K-to-12 Enhanced Basic Education Program of DepEd that our graduates are made ready for college while they could choose to go to the world of work or entrepreneurship. Under the old curriculum, the 10-year basic education is not enough and the students were not really ready for college. Look closely during the first two years in college, the students are taking general subjects, such as English, Mathematics, History and Science. These are the subjects we had taken in high school and are taken again in college. Now these subjects proposed to be taught in their SHS will never be repeated in college, so the students can focus on the specialized subjects related to their course. With the K-to-12 Program, the country’s educational system aligns with the global standards. The normal education years are really from 12 to 13 in almost all countries of the world. So dapat sumabay tayo d’yan. Even our own private schools adhere to the 12-year basic education program. With K-to-12, pantay na ang free high school with private education. Is our SHS Program a specialized program for the Philippines? Or was it patterned from the existing global standards of education?
Ours is a specialized program, contextualized in Philippine setting but patterned from existing global standards. In California their preschool is equivalent to our primary or elementary setup, which is Grades 1-5. Then Grades 6,7,8, middle school; Grades 9, 10, 11, 12, high school. That’s their K-to-12 system, while Singapore has mandatory preschool, six years elementary, four years high school, two years preuniversity then university education. So iba-iba, but all leading to 12 years of basic education.
We have a unique SHS Program here in the Philippines because the program is adapted to the business or industry where the SHS are located. For example in Palawan, it’s tourism-oriented; in Batangas, agriculture; in Laguna, more on ICT courses because there’s a lot of ICTs there. So ours is contextualized.
Our SHS has four different tracks: academic, technical-vocational (techvoc), sports, and arts and design. Each track has different strands. The academic track has general academics, including accounting and business management, humanities and social science, science and technology, mathematics and engineering. So meron pa bawat strand, bawat strand iba-ibang kurso pa, while the tech-voc track has agriculture, computer, beauty care, mechanic at pagkukumpuni ng kung anu-anong bagay. So inaakma natin yan sa industriya kung ano ‘yun io-offer natin, that’s why it is contextualized. And it is patterned from the global standards, so that kung ano dapat ang matutunam ng Grade 12 sa Singapore, matututunan din ng Grade 12 dito sa ‘tin.
Is it true that after two years of HS, the kids would be qualified to work? With this, is the government encouraging more youth to work than to pursue higher education?
With K to 12, we don’t really encourage more young people to work, but we’re giving them options. If they want to work after SHS, it’s up to them. After they get the certificate of competency, like what the tech-voc institute is giving, then they can work. With SHS, techvoc courses, like bartending or air-conditioning, are now given for free. Anyone can take tech-voc courses at SHS, for Levels 1 and 2. Then our tech-voc schools will only give Levels 3 and 4.
With that, we’re giving them meaningful options to either work or pursue higher education. In fact, once they are already earning, this gives them more opportunity, to pursue college. On all probability only 50 percent of graduates pursue college lalo na kung wala ng kakayahan. Kung kumikita na ‘tong batang ’to, then he would think of pursuing school.
Truth is for every 20 high school graduates in the Philippines, only 10 proceed to college. But only five could finish college because of financial reasons, among other reasons. With K to 12, the students can work and earn and proceed to college.
Is it true that the tech-voc education is given more importance in the HS Program than the collegiate courses?
Umali: The K-to-12 Program does not give more importance in tech-voc education over the collegiate courses. Based on DepEd’s latest survey, 49 percent of students are going to academic track (so we have enough schools to offer academic track subjects), 49 percent, techvoc; 1 percent, sports; and 1 percent, arts and design.
Do we have enough teachers to teach tech-voc for SHS?
Right now, we have enough teachers. We are also hiring and we have enough applicants. We will be complete once we are through with hiring process. For one to teach in high school, our law required him or her to be Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) passer. So any tech-voc instructor, who is a LET passer, may teach in the SHS in the tech-voc strand.
How does DepEd addresses parents’ concern on additional expenses, expensive tuition, etc.?
Under K-to-12 the government has the voucher program where our students, the Grade 10-completers, will receive P22,000 voucher in NCR and highly urbanized cities, like Cebu and Davao, which they can use to enroll in private high school. Outside these areas, the students can avail themselves of P17,000. Kapag sa state university and colleges mag-e-enrol ang bata, regardless of whether he came from private or public school, he’ll get 50 percent of the amount. So ’yun ang tugon namin dito sa sinasabing additional expenses. The proper way to view it is this is an investment for your child’s education. You will reap the benefits of your investment once the child proceeds to college or works.
Many studies have shown that, for every additional education gained, a person has better spending power. Mas maganda ang trabaho siyempre nung nag-aral ng six years kumpara dun sa nagtapos ng three years. The more number of years in school and competencies the student acquires, the more earning capacity he has leading to a better economy for the Philippines. That’s what DepEd aims for with the K-to-12 Program.