MANILA – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. wants high school students in the country to be as much as possible ready for job employment upon graduation.
According to incoming Education Secretary Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, this was one of the marching orders to him by President Marcos.
“The President did not say the main point of K-12 is to make Pinoys employable abroad. But he did instruct me to make sure our Senior HS grads have the credentials and skills to get jobs as government promised a decade ago when we added two years to the Basic [Education] Curriculum,” Angara said.
President Marcos has previously said that the K to 12 program was unable to achieve its goal of raising the employability of graduates in the Philippines.
He added that he discussed the program with Angara, as he noted that they were looking into having short courses to improve graduates’ employability.
Angara was one of the authors of Republic Act 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, which institutionalized the government’s K to 12 program.
The law restructured the basic education in the country by requiring Filipino students to undergo one year in kindergarten, six years in primary school, four years in junior high school, and two years in senior high school
Angara will begin his job as DepEd secretary on July 19. He will replace Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, who tendered her resignation from the post last month./PN
