THE REVIEW of the K to 12 program (Republic Act 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013) is long overdue. This overhaul of the country’s basic education system brought with it a myriad of issues as reported from the field by teachers and other school personnel, parents, and students. These issues must be investigated. There is a need to look into the roots of these, including the chronic underfunding for the requirements of basic education, and immediately address them.
The law mandated basic education to encompass one year of kindergarten education, six years of elementary education, and six years of secondary education, which includes four years of junior high school and two years of senior high school without addressing perennial problems already being faced by teachers and students before the enhanced basic education program.
Government foisted additional two years of schooling as the cure all for our country’s problems including unemployment but does it address job scarcity? Today, even college graduates have a hard time looking for jobs with decent wages, how much more do we expect from Grade 12 graduates? Government has to put up a nationalist, scientific and mass-oriented curriculum and system of education, and at the same time, create more decent jobs with decent wages through national industrialization which would make available millions of jobs for Filipinos.
We see the effects of having a pool of skilled laborers with a government that does not provide enough opportunities for its people for decent jobs with decent salaries. They are forced to risk their lives away from their families and serve in foreign countries as cheap laborers and are susceptible to discrimination. Those who choose to stay in the country are also still vulnerable to contractualization, work for depressed wages, and unemployment.
The budget for the K to 12 program has been increasing every year without addressing perennial problems of shortages in classrooms, learning materials, teachers, education support personnel, among others. These shortages are endured everyday by teachers, other school personnel, parents and students who are forced to shell out from their own money to make school facilities and equipment available
We urge the House leadership to thoroughly review and investigate the K to 12 program and the myriad of issued it came with, and answer the question: Does the program serve the interest of the Filipino youth and the people for decent jobs with decent wages and national industrialization?
