No less than the President of the Republic of the Philippines Benigno S. Aquino III, even before his assumption into office as highest official of the land, is very vocal in the idea of adding two more years in our present basic education curriculum. According to him, there are only three countries left in the world, including the Philippines, who have only ten years of basic education cycle.
With the desire to uplift the quality of education in our country, immediately, the Department of Education went to the drawing board and begun to lay out plants in carrying out the president’s dream of coming up with a better basic education program.In its plan, the two years will be added in the existing four-year high school program, this will be called Senior High School. This curriculum offers a more balance approached to learning that will enable children to acquire and master lifelong learning skill as compared to our present congested curriculum.
The K to 12, according to DepEd, will be sufficient to prepare students for work, even without going through college education. DepEd will also continue to offer programs such as home schooling for elementary students and the dropout reduction program for high schools. There will be school industry partnership for techvoc tracks to allow students gain work experience while studying and offer the opportunity to be absorbed by the companies.
The K to 12 basic education curriculum will be in accordance with the college readiness standards from CHED which sets the skills and competencies needed of K to 12 graduates who wish to pursue higher education.
Right now, the technical working group of DepEd has formulated the new curriculum framework, standards and competencies for K to 12. Experts from CHED, TESDA, and other stakeholders are part of this working group.
The Department of Education is doing its best to come up with a better curriculum to address the immediate concerns in uplifting the quality of education in our country, K to 12 might be the answer.
By: Ms. ERLINDA P. LABONG | Grade VI Teacher | Bagac Elementary School
