Pasig, Metro Manila, Philippines (AHN) – Philippine Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro is advocating for three more years of basic schooling for Filipino youth. Luistro said on Tuesday, which was World Teachers’ Day, that the department will initiate public consultations so it could implement the K + 12 basic education program.
The program would mandate a kindergarten, six years of elementary education, four years of junior high school and two years of senior high school for a student to be eligible to pursue a university degree.
However, to do that, the education department would have to work with Congress to amend the current law, the Education Act of 1982, which placed basic formal education at only 10 years.
Luistro said the public consultations would begin in the first quarter of 2011. He hoped the proposed change, geared to be in line with global standards of 12 years of basic education, would be spared partisan politics. President Benigno Aquino III initially pushed for the reform in basic education when he announced the policy change in his inaugural speech on June 30.
The proposal has been criticized by various groups. Many parents are not in favor of the proposal because of the added expenses. While public education is free, the quality is low, so many parents enroll their children in private schools, most of which increase their tuition fees yearly.
Some groups also questioned the cost of such a program to the government since the current 10-year basic education is grappling with teacher, classroom and funding shortages. According to DepEd estimates, new classrooms and seats would cost $1 billion (44 billion pesos), additional teachers $347 million (15.1 billion), textbooks $5 million (216 million) and school maintenance and operations $41.3 million (1.8 billion pesos).
Luistro claimed that graduates of the K + 12 program would be employable because the two additional years of high school would have a curriculum that would allow specialization in science and technology, music and arts, agriculture and fisheries, sports, and business and entrepreneurship.
Those who opt to pursue a college degree would be more mature to handle higher education disciplines since they would be 18 by the time they enter university, Luistro said. Under the current system, Filipinos who finish high school are 15 or 16 years old.
If the consultations show that different sectors would approve the K + 12 program, the DepEd plans to put in place the universal kindergarten program by school year 2011-2012. The junior high school program would take effect for incoming freshmen for school year 2012-2013, while the senior high school program would start by school year 2016-2017.
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