Will more school years reform education?

CONSIDERING the moribund state of Philippine basic education, is the addition of two more years the panacea that will make Filipino students more competitive?

The Department of Education (DepEd) began the implementation of the “K+12” education plan in the current school year with aims of uplifting the quality of basic education in the country.

Under K+12, the secondary level will be divided into two: Four years of junior high school and two years of senior high school.

Next academic year, incoming grade one and first year high school students will be enrolling to the new curriculum prescribed by DepEd. Philippine schools will have their first batch of senior high school graduates by 2018.

For President Benigno Aquino III, children who get more years of basic education have better chances of getting into the best universities and obtaining the best jobs after graduation.

“I want at least 12 years for our public school children to give them an even chance at succeeding,” he said in his platform on Philippine education in his State of the Nation Address.

Data from the National Statistics Office showed that the country’s unemployment rate as of October 2011 stood at seven percent. Out of the 2.8 million jobless, 32.9 percent were high school graduates, while 22.6 and 20 percent were college undergraduates and graduates, respectively.

Sinforoso Birung, director of the Commission on Higher Education’s (Ched) Office of Programs and Standards, echoed the President, saying 10 years is not enough for basic learning.

“Preparation is not enough to get a job with a 10-year basic education,” he said in a K+12 forum hosted by the College of Nursing last Feb. 7 at the Medicine Auditorium.

The achievement scores of primary and secondary students stood at just 68.15 and 47.93 percent, respectively, based on the 2011 National Achievement Test administered by the National Education Testing and Research Center.

Not the solution

Emmalyn Policarpio, spokesperson of Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), told the Varsitarian that modifying the curriculum is not the solution to the problems of education and that the government is just adding a burden to the education sector with K+12.

“We are forming new programs when we haven’t even given a proper solution to the current problem in education. We must first look at the primary problems: Build enough classrooms, fix the facilities, and increase the number of [competitive] teachers before we attend to other difficulties,” Policarpio said.

“There are many qualified teachers, but they don’t get hired,” Policarpio added.

Aside from the lack of teachers, there’s a shortage of 66,800 classrooms in the country.

DepEd is not prepared to push the program as the P238.8-billion budget allotted by the government for education this year won’t be enough, Policarpio said

“When we talk about the percentage [of the budget for the education department], it is definitely high but when you look at its real value, it is really not [high] because of all the shortages we have, especially in the teaching force,” Policarpio said.

Impact on UST

Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P., Rector of UST, has formed a committee to prepare the University’s implementation model for the K+12 program, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs Clarita Carillo said.

UST will be revising the curricula of its academic programs as the increased years of basic education will result in a shorter period of tertiary level education. If fact, tertiary institutions will suffer from two years of no enrollment to give way to the additional years of K+12.

“Based on the College Readiness Program being designed by CHED, most of the general education courses will be part of the pre-university level, or what we will soon be called the Grades 11 and 12,” Carillo said.

Mila Delia Llanes, one of the panelists in the K+12 forum and a Nursing professor, said the University will have the chance to “revisit, realign, and reconfigure” UST’s curriculum during the two-year hiatus.

“When we unload some of the general education programs, we will have more time to realign the competencies of subjects according to the program that they should have, so students can enjoy a quality education,” she said.

But according to Carillo, there is no need to be alarmed about the “two-year vacuum,” saying the University will implement a framework attuned to its own condition and resources.

Former UST Center for Research and Development Director Allan de Guzman, a UST K+12 committee member and College of Education professor, said K+12 is designed to prepare students for the tertiary level.

The program should be viewed as a movement with three steps: pagpapalit, paglilipat, and paglalapat, he said. For him, the last will be the difficult part that the University will soon face.

“The question now would be on how we will align existing programs to the demands and challenges posed by the K+12 system,” De Guzman said. “The moment we implement K+12, schools, colleges, and universities are given three models for the two senior years: the general secondary education, the applied secondary education, and the integrated model of education.”

Students coming out of junior high school will choose which track they will get into.

The general secondary education model will offer electives on Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan, like dressmaking, information technology, and bookkeeping, while applied secondary education models will offer optional classes on technical and vocational courses.

De Guzman said UST will utilize the third, which is more focused on academic specialization, by offering the senior high school level at the UST High School.

After students complete their first four years in high school, they will have to qualify to the next level, called the upper secondary level or the pre-university level. Afterwards, they will take an exit examination and the University will grant them the diploma of the upper secondary level, enabling them to enter college, De Guzman said.

“Since general education subjects are to be taught in the pre-university level, the curriculum for the tertiary level can now be stretched to what it is supposed to teach,” he said. “All general education courses will be taken out of the curriculum of the degrees, so the only courses that will be offered in college are the major and professional courses.”

Meanwhile, UST High School principal Marishirl Tropicales said that they are already preparing for the adjustments to be made for the K+12 program starting next school year.

“We will call the first-year high school as grade seven and adopt the new curriculum from DepEd. Teachers would have to retool and update,” she said.

In July last year, teachers were sent to trainings and seminars about the program inside and outside the University, she said.

Rhodora Ferrer, executive director of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines, said in an e-mail that various diocesan systems are now studying the impact of K+12 on parochial schools.

“For example, the parochial schools of the Archdiocese of Jaro have started with transition activities which include tracer studies on graduates for the last five years, and career interest inventory [of their elementary students],” Ferrer said.

Carillo said K+12 would only be effective if it is properly implemented, adding that its success would depend on several factors—curriculum relevance, teacher competency, adequacy of facilities, and education quality.

“The industry is ready to look at skills and competencies, not just degrees; and parents will welcome a paradigm shift,” she said.

‘Lagging behind’

According to Birung, the Philippines is the only country in Asia, and one of the three countries in the world, that still offer the 10-year basic education curriculum.

“With such program, Filipino college graduates are not automatically recognized as professionals abroad,” he said.

But Policarpio said that it doesn’t matter if the Philippines is the only country still using the 10-year program, adding that quality education is more important than the length of study.

“Is it really necessary to add years in the basic education cycle?” she asked. “Even if you make it up to 24 years, if it is not quality education we are offering to the students, it is useless.”

She also said that K+12 gives the impression that the DepEd is planning to make all students go abroad although not everybody wants to work overseas.