By Butch Fernandez and Joel San Juan
After various sectoral groups filed legal challenges to the K to 12 initiative, President Aquino said his administration will continue to pursue the key reform extending the basic education program from 10 to 12 years.
Keynoting the K to 12 Summit at the Philippine International Convention Center, Mr. Aquino chided critics for behaving as if “they know best” when, he insisted, the system was prepared for the expectedly difficult two years’ transition and the Department of Education (DepEd) was responding to all concerns.
Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro, who joined President Aquino at the summit, also assured that the Aquino administration spared nothing in dealing with all the problems of adjusting both the public and private schools to the new scheme.
In his speech, Mr. Aquino warned the Philippines cannot pass up on the chance to change the system now, as this will leave future generations still at a disadvantage in the world.
The President said the country was one of only three left that still had a 10-year basic-education system, which puts in doubt, fairly or unfairly, their competitiveness in the jobs market.
On Friday Suspend K to 12 Alliance joined other groups in asking the Supreme Court to scrap the education program.
In its petition, the group said Mr. Aquino and three other officials committed grave abuse of discretion when they legislated Republic Act (RA) 10533, or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, which implements the K to 12 Program.
The group also said RA 10533 directly violates provisions of Articles II, XII, XII, XIV of the Constitution, which guarantees Filipinos’ right to education, labor and economy.
The day before the summit, the National Union of People’s Lawyers joined the Suspend K to 12 coalition in filing the third petition in the SC seeking to stop implementation of K to 12 when the new school year opens on June 1.
They said it negated the constitutional guarantee of free basic education by adding a burden of two more years.
For his part, Luistro acknowledged at the summit the concerns raised by critics, but said that the DepEd and other relevant agencies had dealt with them, and there was no stopping change.
There had been concern that even before K to 12, the government was barely meeting the shortages in classrooms, chairs, teachers and books; and the dropout rate remained high. Critics said the situation would be compounded by K to 12.