K+10+2 PROGRAM | Youth lawmaker says length of curriculum not the only factor in learning quality

July 31, 2023 , 08:50 PM

By Clarist Zablan

(July 31, 2023) – A youth party-list lawmaker on Monday was lukewarm on a proposal to replace senior high school with an optional “pre-university” program, saying legislators should not focus solely on the length of basic education to improve the quality of education.

In a statement after a technical working group meeting on the bill, Kabataan Congressman Raoul Manuel said it is “limiting” for the government to base the “quality and competitiveness” of the country’s education sector solely on how many years the basic education curriculum is made mandatory to all Filipino learners.

“Hindi nakasalalay ang de kalidad na edukasyon sa haba ng required na taon,” Manuel said. “Kung di mapapatunayan na may ambag ang Senior High School sa kalidad at sa kahandaan ng high school graduates papuntang college o trabaho, mainam nang ibasura ito.”

He suggested to the House basic education panel to instead focus instead on increasing funding to build more classrooms and hire more teachers

“Kailangan ng curriculum na nakatuon sa pangangailangan ng bawat Pilipino at pambansang pag-unlad, hindi sa standards at interes ng dayuhan at malalaking kumpanya. It’s not all about making sure graduates are readily employable, but ensuring they are critical and active citizens,” said Manuel.

The measure filed by Deputy House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last April proposed replacing the K to 12 program with a “K + 10 + 2” program, covering a compulsory 11-year education program composed of one year of Kindergarten, six years of elementary school, and four years of high school.

If passed into law, the additional two years of “post-secondary, pre-university” would only be mandatory for learners who are seeking to pursue professional studies such as accounting, engineering, law and medicine.

Arroyo, a former president, cited the need to reduce the number of years of mandatory education in response to the country’s large number of population who are living in poverty, to make sure that their children are allowed to graduate from basic education “soonest” to help financially support their family.

She also raised concerns that the current senior high school program failed in meeting its goal of making high school graduates more employable as many businesses in the private sector still preferred hiring college or university graduates.

Only one in five senior high school graduates have entered the labor force, with the rest opting to pursue higher education to improve their job prospects, based on a 2020 Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) survey.

In his State of the Nation Address last week, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said the government is “recalibrating” the country’s basic education program to ensure it remains “relevant, responsive, and at par with international standards.”

(MM)

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