K-12 Education Reform: Problems and Prospects

1 Gib onvol. IX (2011) pp. 70 80c 2012 Ateneo de Naga UniversityGeneral ArticleISSN 1655-7247K-12 Education Reform: Problems and ProspectsMaria Rose S. SergioPresidential Assistant for Research and AdvocacyAteneo de Naga UniversityAbstractThe K-12 Basic Education Program proposed by the Departmentof Education adds two years of secondary Education to enable grad-uates to pursue one of three tracks: employment after graduation,higher Education , or entrepreneurship. The reform faces challengesin redesigning the curriculum, in deploying and training teachers atthe start of the program s implementation, in ensuring the sustain-ability of the program, and in meeting the required issues should be addressed soon for the well-meant, timely,and much needed program to benefit not only the individual stu-dents, but also the country, in strength of a nation greatly depends on the strength of itseducation system.

2 The Philippine government ideally adheres to thisbelief. A revisiting of the 1987 Philippine Constitution reminds usthat the organized machinery of the State gives primacy to educationas a basic human right. The following are some of the provisions,which serve as the fundamental framework in ensuring that indeededucation is rightly valued. The State shall give priority to Education , science andtechnology, arts, culture, and sports to foster patriotismand nationalism, accelerate social progress, and promotetotal human liberation and development (Section 17, Ar-ticle 2).Maria Rose Sergio71 The State shall protect and promote the right of all cit-izens to quality Education at all levels, and shall take ap-propriate steps to make such Education accessible to all (Section 1, Article 14).

3 The State recognizes the complementary roles of pub-lic and private institutions in the educational system andshall exercise reasonable supervision and regulation of alleducational institutions (Section 4, Article 14). The State shall assign the highest budgetary priority toeducation and ensure that teaching will attract and retainits rightful share of the best available talents through ad-equate remuneration and other means of job satisfactionand fulfillment (Section 5, Article 14).Based on the above-cited constitutional provisions, there is nodoubt that Education is of primordial importance to the well-being ofthe people and consequently creates a positive impact on the over-all status of the country.

4 Various indicators, however, reveal thatthe quality of Philippine Education continues to be in decline: poorperformance in international comparative tests in science and math,unpreparedness of some, if not most, high school graduates to takeon the rigors of academic life in college, and skills and competenciesof graduates that inadequately match industry alone and in comparison with others, Philippine ed-ucation has been under serious threats of deterioration. A lot offactors can be considered as causes, including (a) no broad politi-cal support for real reforms, (b) weak institutional environment forchange, and (c) rapid population growth (von Amsberg, 2003, p. 4).In the past, four special bodies had been created by the gov-ernment to assess the quality of Education in the country, identify theproblems, and recommend effective solutions.

5 These were the Con-gressional Commission on Education (EDCOM) of 1991, the Philip-pines Education Sector Study (PESS) of 1998, the Presidential Com-mission on Educational Reform (PCER) in 2000, and the Presiden-tial Task Force for Education created by virtue of Executive Order625 on July 10, 2007. All these bodies reported their findings andrecommendations but most of these were not carried the new administration of President Benigno Aquino III,new reforms have been declared. With a promise that his admin-72K-12 Education Reformistration is serious about bringing change, cautious optimism callsfor a favorable regard to what he will do and hope that this time, Education will truly be insulated from an attempt to yet again create substantial and sustainablereforms in the Education sector, President Aquino proclaimed as oneof his priority areas a redefinition of basic Education through theK-12 Education one point in his campaign, the President was called the Education President, given his leaning towards Education as a pri-mary area for change and as an indispensable factor in the growth ofour nation.

6 Without question, such bias towards Education earnedhim the approval, respect, and votes of equally-minded people whoseonly desire is to allow the young generation to enjoy the merits of amuch-improved quality of months after he was sworn into office as the Chief Execu-tive of the Philippines, his alter ego in the Department of Education (DepEd), Bro. Armin Luistro, launched the K-12 educational reformand called on the various stakeholders to consider the merits of thereform and consequently support the October 5, 2010, DepEd engaged in an aggressiveawareness campaign along with consultations at various levels local,regional, national with the different stakeholders academe, par-ents, students, business, and industry in the hope that their inputswill contribute significantly to filling-in the framework of the K-12with the necessary closer look at the K-12 modelAs things currently stand, basic Education in the country refersto ten years of academic and practical formation of pupils.

7 Of theten, six years is devoted to elementary Education while four years isfor secondary Education ( Education Act of 1982, 1982). The K-12seeks to change such a definition of basic to a briefer released by DepEd (2010a), the K-12 Basic Education Program refers to Kindergarten and the 12 yearsof elementary and secondary Education . Specifically, DepEd choseto work on the K-6-4-2 model. Such a model requires a compulsoryyear of Kindergarten, six years of elementary Education , four yearsof junior high school, and two years of senior high school. As thebriefer further discusses, the two years of senior high school intendMaria Rose Sergio73to provide time for students to consolidate acquired academic skillsand competencies.

8 The additional two years after what now standsas high school is designed to have three tracks: (a) employment rightafter graduation, (b) higher Education , and (c) can be gleaned from what is currently implemented andwhat DepEd seeks to implement effective next year, there is an ad-ditional two years in the basic Education of all pupils. The notionof an additional two years of schooling does not seem to be appeal-ing to parents who literally struggle to send their children to to examine is the rationale behind the introduction of theK-12 reform as enunciated by holistic human development is at the heart of the K-12 ba-sic Education program. It envisions a graduate who has a mastery ofcore competencies as well as a solid training on work and life K-12 desires to address some of the long standing Problems inbasic Education such as a congested curriculum, the ineptitude of alot of graduates of the current basic Education model and consequentlack of preparedness to take on the rigors of college life, the incapac-ity to work of high school graduates due to age as they are usually16 year-old individuals who are still incapable of legally entering acontract, the mismatch between the curriculum and the skills thatthe industry needs.

9 And the difficulty of seeking equivalency or ac-creditation abroad for those graduates who intend to pursue studieselsewhere since most countries, especially in the Southeast Asian re-gion, require 12 years of basic Education (see Table 1).From where the program stands along with an appreciationof its vision and goals, there seems to be no other plausible optionfor the state to take but the road towards the eventual implementa-tion of the K-12 program. However worthy the program is, a moreprudent way of proceeding is to look into its preparatory, transitory,and actual implementation requirements. This leads us to the dis-cussion of the challenges that the program poses which consequentlydemands urgent and expedient action if its phased implementationstarting next year is Education ReformTable 1 Comparative data on pre-university Education in AsiaCountryBasic Education Cycle TotalBrunei12 Cambodia12 Indonesia12 Lao PDR12 Malaysia12 Myanmar11 Philippines10 Singapore11 Thailand12 Timor Leste12 Vietnam12 Source: Adapted from SEAMEO-INNOTECH (DepEd, 2010b)Challenges to the K-12 Education reformCurriculum designThe discussion paper released by DepEd (2010b) when it firstannounced the K-12 states that the program s primary goal is to en-hance the basic Education curriculum.

10 It is the contention of DepEdofficials that the current curriculum is too congested since its contentsare supposed to be delivered in 12 years, like most basic educationprograms. However, in the country s case, they are covered in 10years. With the new program, it is DepEd s desire to appropriatelytweak out, polish, and streamline the curriculum for its most effectivedelivery and to lay the contents of basic Education within a periodof 12 , the 12-year basic Education curriculum that theDepEd seeks to design is one which hopes to address basic inade-quacies of the current curriculum, particularly, to equip the studentswith the indispensable skills that will prepare them to face the worldof work after the end of the 12 years.