The Philippines is the last country in Asia to implement the 12-year basic

education program. Before the K to 12 Program, it was one of three countries in

the world with a 10-year pre-university cycle (Angola and Djibouti are the other
two).

For Filipino graduates to be able to compete globally and to adopt education

standards that are recognized worldwide, the K to 12 Program was implemented
through the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013.

However, less than two months before the start of the implementation of the
Senior High School (SHS) this June, the last phase of the K to 12 Program,
teachers are calling for the suspension of the program.

"Half-baked"  curriculum, lack of classrooms, books, teachers

"Solve education  problems first"

Teachers' Dignity Coalition (TDC), a group of Filipino educators with a

membership of 30,000 teachers from across the country, agrees that the
Philippine educational system should be the same in quality or at least be
comparable to the educational system of neighboring Asian countries.

The organization, which seeks to uphold the rights and welfare of teachers in
various fields, also recognizes the need for reform and the additional year for the
basic education program.

But Anabelle dela Cerna, TDC vice chairman for the Visayas, said the group is
calling for the suspension of the implementation of the K to 12 Program because
the Philippine government is not yet ready to implement it.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) in Central Visayas also shares the
same sentiment and wants the program implementation suspended. ACT is an
alliance of public school teachers in the country. ACT-7 has 7,000 members,
1,600 of whom are from Metro Cebu.

"We are calling for the suspension of K to 12! We need to solve all the problems
of the educational system then rigorously plan the new curriculum," TDC's Dela
Cerna told The FREEMAN.

Dela Cerna said majority of the schools in the country still lack teachers,
classrooms, chairs and reading materials, but the government continues to push
for the implementation of the program.  She said books and learning materials for
junior high school are not even completed, how much more the learning
materials for SHS.

"Our system has not solved problems like lack of classrooms, shortage of
teachers,lack of books and chairs, no comfort rooms in schools, no water system
etcetera Our educational system should solve first all these problems before it
will implement such curriculum," she said, adding that the K to 12 curriculum is
"half-baked" and that many higher education institution teachers will be displaced
since there will be no graduates for two years.

"If we cannot solve issues and old problems in the educational system, we
cannot implement a new curriculum," she said.

ACT-7 president Antonia Lim, meanwhile, said buildings intended for K to 12 are
still being constructed or have just started construction like in the Abellana
National High School (ANHS) where she is currently teaching.

Lim claims that DepEd has been instructing school principals to reduce this
year's enrollment for Grade 7 to accommodate SHS.

"Ang MAPEH naa ra gani sa grandstand nagklase kay wa'y classroom. Magyaka
ra's lobby sa sports center ang mga studyante," she said.

 Learning materials that are being produced for elementary to junior high and
textbooks for Senior High School, which has specialized subjects, are still being
bid out, she said, adding that there are still no books available for SHS, as well
Grades 1, 7 and 10.

"The government should accept that we are not yet ready for K to 12. Everything
is lacking, from books, buildings to teachers," she said.

"[The country] does not need [the K-to-12 program] to achieve quality education.
It can't be defined only through the number of years [in school] because issues,
such as the lack of learning materials, classrooms and health and sanitation
facilities, should first be addressed," Lim added.

"Voucher Program will benefit private schools"

TDC and ACT also raised problemsabout the SHS tracks and strands.

Dela Cerna explained that because SHS schools will be offering different strands
or majors, students would have to look for a school that offers the strand they
want to take up.
A student who wants to take up the culinary strand, she cited, will be looking for a
school that offers it. She expressed concern that students from poor families
cannot even go to schools that are near where they live because of financial
problems, how much more if students have to look for schools that are far from
where they are living."Basically, students will stop going to school because of
lack of opportunities to get the desired strands," she said.

Lim uses the situation at the ANHS to illustrate the SHS problem. The school had
at least 1,400 junior high graduates last March, but it can only accommodate
around 600 SHS students this June. The school is also offering only the Tech-
Voc and Sports tracks.

Graduates who are not tech-voc and sports-inclined students, Lim said, willhave
to go to other schools, mostly private, where General Academic and Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) tracks are offered. She
added that because of this situation, private schools are the ones benefitting from
the Voucher Program.

 The Voucher Program covers public Junior High School completers who wish to
pursue SHS in non-DepEd schools such as private high schools, colleges and
universities; local universities and colleges (LUCs); State Universities and
Colleges (SUCs); and Technical and Vocational schools. The voucher enables
students to claim a "discount" from the cost of tuition and other fees charged by a
non-DepED SHS where he or she will enroll. The voucher subsidy is disbursed
by DepEd directly to the non-DepEd SHS where the student enrolls.

The value of the discount, which ranges from P10,000 to P22,500 depends on
the location of SHS institution that the students plans to enroll in.

"Teachers not ready, too"

Saying that the curriculum for the K to 12 Program is "imprecise" and "vague,"
ACT's Lim said the teachers are not ready for their SHS responsibilities, too.

There are certain subjects under the old college curriculum that have been
transferred or added to the K to 12's SHS curriculum resulting to fewer units
under the College General Education curriculum.

The teachers tasked to handle SHS, Lim said are "not prepared and competent"
enough to teach the SHS subjects after undergoing only five days of training.
Social Science, for instance, she said is broad to teach since it encompasses
different sub-topics.
Dela Cerna, meanwhile, also said they are saddened after learning that DepEd is
hiring teachers for the SHS but the teachers will only be trained for less than a
month."A course that is basically very new to them but they need to learn for
short time because they will already be teaching this coming June," she said.

TDC also raised issues regarding the "contractualization" of teachers under K to

12 Program, saying some teachers are hired based on contracts and as part
timers, especially those teachers who are not board passers.

DEPED defends K to 12
Despite criticisms from teachers who are part of the department, DepEd defends
the K to 12 Program and insists that all its 221 divisions have finished planning
and have figures on enrolment a year in advance. These plans were reviewed by
a separate team and finalized upon consultation with other stakeholders.

Curriculum is "standards and competence-based"

The DepED said the K to 12 Curriculum is standards and competence-based, is

inclusive and is built around the needs of the learners and the community.The
crafting of the curriculum for Grades 11 and 12 — or SHS levels — was
completed in 2014.

The SHS curriculum covers a total of 31 subjects, at least 15 of which comprise

the core subjects that stemmed from eight learning areas: Language,
Humanities, Communication, Mathematics, Philosophy, Science, Social
Sciences, and P.E. and Health.

The remaining 16 subjects consist of the track subjects. The Academic Track
prepares students should they plan to pursue college education while the Tech-
Voc, Sports, and Arts and Design tracks will equip students with the skills needed
to secure jobs in the field they want.

Isaiash Wagas, the program coordinator for SHS of DepEd-Cebu Province

Division, said the plotting of courses for the core subjects, the applied track
subjects and the specialized subjects will be upon the discretion of the school's
principal.

Each subject must be taken up for 80 hours per semester, except P.E. and
Health, which only requires 20 hours per semester.

"As a matter of general rule, all subjects must be taken up everyday," he said but
added that there could be some exemptions wherein subjects may not be taught
on a daily basis but may be discussed on alternate days for more hours.
One of the important aspects considered for mapping out the subjects is the
availability of teachers, said Wagas.

"If the handling teacher is not available, you will have to device it another way,"
he said, stressing that there is already an electronic program designed to be
user-friendly for school heads to plot out the subjects.

"More teachers hired, new classrooms constructed"

To address the issue on the number of teachers, DepEd has filled 128,105 new
teacher items nationwide from 2010 to 2014. The department has been hiring
two kinds of teachers: those who will teach the core subjects, and those who will
teach the specialized subjects per track. DepEd will hire 37,000 teachers
nationwide for SHS for 2016 alone.

In the Visayas, at least 7,162 teachers (3,011 for Eastern Visayas; 2,400 for
Cebu Province; and 1,751 for Western Visayas)are needed this school year as
school officials gear for the full implementation of the K to 12 Program this school
year, according to DepEd officials.

DepEd started accepting applications from teachers last January until February.
Screenings for the applicants are still ongoing this month wherein applicants are 
interview by respective division heads.

SHS coordinator for DepEd Central Visayas Tomas Pastor said there are at least
2,186 teacher items in the region for the different applied tracks.

He added that instructional materials or textbooks for SHS are now available at
the DepEd Central Office but have not yet been distributed.

Pastor said the preparations for SHS in the region is already at the 70 percent
level and is targeted to reach 100 percent on the last week of May.

In matters concerning the lack of classrooms, the DepEd reported that it has
constructed a total of 86,478 classrooms nationwide as of February 2015.

In the DepEd Cebu Province Division, a consolidated report shows that as of

March 28 this year, some 932 classrooms are still under construction while 72
classrooms have been completed.

At least 16 classrooms have not yet started construction while another eight is
still under the procurement process.
The future of k to 12 in the region
To further strengthen the implementation of the K to 12 Program, more funding is
expected to be allocated for DepEd.

In Central Visayas, the DepEd-7is proposing a P21.9-billion budget for 2017 to

fund the agency's education programs, activities and projects.

The bulk of the proposed budget or P14.136 billion is for the regular operations
for K to 12.

Around P5.136 billion has been proposed for the senior high school operations,
while the remaining P2.58 billion is for the bottom-up budgeting.

The biggest portion of the K to 12 budget will go to the provision and

maintenance of basic education facilities amounting to P10.121 billion. Some
P1.6 billion will also be allocated for new teaching positions.

For SHS, P2.69 billion has been set aside for the provision and maintenance of
basic education facilities. Of the amount, P1.41 billion is for Cebu and P383.2
million of which is for the sixth district (Mandaue City and towns of Consolacion
and Cordova).

At least P637.33 million is proposed for the creation of new teachers I position
items for SHS in the region. About half of the amount or P337.21 is allocated for
Cebu Province.

The 2017 budget that DepEd -7 proposed for SHS also include P1.01 billion for
workshops; P169.62 million for textbooks and learning materials; P587 million for
the Voucher Program.

DepEd has the biggest budget allocation among national government agencies.
In 2014, DepEd had a budget of P290 billion and this increased to P370 billion in
2015.

DepEd got a record-high P436.46 billion this year for the roll out of the SHS
program this June. — /QSB (BANAT NEWS)
Solon sees problems in
K-12 implementation,
might seek suspension
Published March 10, 2015 8:25pm

By XIANNE ARCANGEL, GMA News

A year before the full implementation of the government's K-12

program, the chairman of the House committee on higher and
technical education said the Department of Education (DepEd) is still
unprepared for its full implementation.

Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo on Tuesday warned he might seek

the suspension of the program if the DepEd fails to address the
problems concerning the program’s implementation by early next
year.

“If it comes to that point na hindi sila handa, I will have no second
thoughts authoring a resolution calling for the suspension [of the K-
12’s implementation],” Romulo told reporters at the sidelines of a
press briefing.

Among the most pressing problems Romulo thinks DepEd should

immediately address is the lack of classrooms and safety nets for
teachers and school workers who will be displaced by the
introduction of additional two years in high school.

He said another problem is the poorly structured technical,

vocational and livelihood track under the specialized academic
subjects for senior high school students.

Under Republic Act 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of

2013, a student will be required to undergo kindergarten, six years
of elementary, four years of junior high school and two years of
senior high school. It will be rolled out in school year 2016-2017.

Citing data provided by the DepEd, Romulo said there is a shortage

of 34,000 classrooms for incoming students during the first year of
the K-12 implementation.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED), meanwhile, estimates

that a total of 86,001 faculty members in private higher education
institutions are at risk of being displaced when students start senior
high school.

Romulo also finds the curriculum of the technical, vocational and

livelihood track problematic since it was only patterned after current
program of the Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority (TESDA).

“Nakita naman natin na base sa datos ng TESDA, ilang percent lang

naman ang nagiging employable pagka-graduate nila,” he said.

But while saying that DepEd doesn't seem ready to fully implement
K-12, Romulo said there is still time for the agency to fix the
loopholes in its preparations.

“Mayroon pa tayong panahon para mapaghandaan [ang K-12]. May

mga solusyon pang pwedeng i-present ang DepEd para
masolusyonan ang mga problema,” he said.

Romulo’s committee is set to hold a hearing pm Wednesday with

DepEd, CHED and other stakeholders in the K-12 program to seek
updates on the preparations for its implementation. —KBK, GMA
News