The K-12 education program aims to uplift the quality of education in the Philippines in order for graduates to be easily employed. The program also aims to meet the standards required for professionals who would want to work abroad. Most importantly, the system aims to fully enhance and develop the students in order for them to be well-prepared especially in emotional and cognitive aspects. Through this, graduates will be able to face the pressures of their future workplace.
If the K-12 Education Plan becomes successful, then the Philippine education system can become more competitive among other countries around the world. Though there are still some problems that the government needs to solve before they can successfully implement the plan.
These problems includes the following:
(1) there are not enough classrooms and schools to comfortably fit all the students (not to mention not enough bathrooms and water supply)
(2) there are not enough books; add the problem of poor quality books, on top of that there are not enough facilities and finally very high dropout rates. The latter, high dropout rates are being caused by something out of the education system but affect a large part of the population – poverty. If the government could allot a bigger budget to educational needs, then we could be one-step ahead towards the success of the K-12 program.
(3) parents (especially those who belong in the poor sector) should be properly informed and motivated of the advantages of the K-12 Education Plan. This is very important since parents play a major role in providing the child’s school allowances, supplies, and fees for other school projects and activities. Add to that the support of parents towards their children in terms of guidance and teaching. The DepEd seems all set to add two more years to the country’s 10 year basic education curriculum. This is a very tough issue to crack. We think it is a clash between reality and the ideal. a question unanswered – is this for the common good? The truth is there are already many problems at the current 10-year curriculum and it has nothing to do with number of years. to enumerate a few
(4) there are not enough qualified teachers to teach all the students; that is made worst with just too many students;
(5) There are just so many poor families and they are so poor that many of them cannot afford to pay for the already meager amount needed for the education of their children. Grade school and high school are free in public schools with parents needing to just spend on uniforms, fare and some expenses. The tuition which normally accounts for a very large share of the total expenses are free and yet most poor families can still not afford of what is left for them to spend. It is not that the expenses are high, it’s just their income is very, very low. It is this inability to afford the other expenses that has caused a very high dropout rate among students.
This plan of the DepEd to add two more years will of course not solve any of the above problems. In fact, it will only extend all those problems by two more years. A longer basic education will also mean even higher dropout rates. Then there is the problem of additional expenses for the government. As of now, with the 10 year curriculum, there is already desperate lack of classrooms and schools. The public schools cannot turn the students away when they show up to enrol. To cope many public schools have crammed as many students as they can inside the classroom with classrooms crammed with chairs from wall to wall. Not enough, the schools conduct classes in at least shifts, in some instances classes held very early in the morning till late in the evening. With two additional years, the schools will definitely need to construct new buildings and classrooms or God forbid conduct classes 24/7.
But as long as we open our minds to change and we will take it on a positive way, we will definitely attain our most-aspired educational standards which will play a great role in our country’s development and will therefore, uplift us from poverty.
By: MS. APRIL S. REYES | Capunitan Elementary School | Orion, Bataan
