Story & photo by Oliver Samson / Correspondent
THE Letran Student Council (LSC) is challenging 2016 elections presidential aspirants to show up at their campus and debate on education and other national issues affecting students and help the youth make their decision.
The K to 12 Program should be highly regarded in the proposed discourse in early January next year, LSC President Jose Diego de la Cruz said in a recent interview.
The program, which lengthens the years in secondary education from four to six by adding the two-year senior high school, seeks to produce competitive secondary school and college graduates.
But, uncertainty over employment opportunities continue to bother parents and students as the road future K to 12 graduates will take after finishing college remains uncharted in the country, de la Cruz said.
“Are we extending the years to produce competitive graduates, but no employment opportunities await them?” he said.
The presidential wannabes have to tell students how will they address or mitigate poverty in the country with K to 12 Program in the case any of them win the race, de la Cruz said.
The program has been successful in other Asean countries, but the Philippines has a culture and politics different from its neighbors, he said.
According to the Department of Education, K to 12 will “provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment and entrepreurship.”
Johnwell Fortuno, the student council auditor, expressed concern over the continuity of K to 12 Program after the May 2016 national and local elections.
What will happen to the program if President Aquino’s standard-bearer will not win the presidential race, he said.
Fortuno expects the presidential aspirants to tell how will they pursue the K to 12 Program.
The contenders for the highest government position should also announce their plan on addressing illiteracy among Filipinos, de la Cruz said. Many do not set foot in college due to poverty, he added.
Alain Fusana and Louie Alphonse Divinagracia, the student council secretary and public relations officer, respectively, disclosed that two presidential aspirants are wooing the council but refused to give names.
“It’s early campaigning actually,” Divinagracia noted.
The student council cannot allow itself to be identified with a particular candidate for president.
What the council can offer is a campus debate on education and other issues affecting students, Fusana said.
Colegio de San Juan de Letran has a current population of about 4,000, said Alain Fusana, student council secretary.
An institution built on love of country, The LSC seeks to instill nationalism among the students and young inviduals in the communities, Divinagracia said.
“Patriotism is still very much present among students of Letran today,” Fusana said.
The council conducted voters registration at the campus on September 23, where about 400 young people registered.
Exercising the right of suffrage during national and local elections is one way of expressing patriotism, Divinagracia said.
Casting vote, however, is not enough, Fusana said. Voters, especially the young, require awareness. Fusana added that the LSC will conduct a voters’ education on October 10 and would host the presidential debate in their campus in early January.
Fusana said the LSC proves Filipino millennials are not apathetic to social issues.
A survey by schools led by the Far Eastern University revealed majority of freshmen do not join demonstrations.
Fusana said the LSC, to note, condemns the extrajudicial killings and violations of other human rights of lumads in Surigao del Sur. “These should be investigated and the lumads be accorded due process of the law and their rights fully respected.”
Letran produced Manuel Luis Quezon, president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines and served as the Republic’s second chief executive from 1935 to 1944.
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Image credits: Oliver Samson