Saying "NO to K to 12 Program!" (A break from my Grammar class)

Last Monday, August 3, the College of Arts and Letters (CAL), the house of my course Bachelor of Arts in English, celebrated the Buwan ng Wika. The professors of our department joined the celebration which included the parade of the CAL students representing different festivals here in the Philippines, followed by their performances held at the freedom park.

Our AEG professor was there, and so we didn't have class that day. Same thing happened last Thursday because we had a quiz.

To make it short, we have no topic yet for another article. Therefore, let me take a break from my Grammar class and post my sentiments about the current situation of education here in our country because --- why not?

I say "NO to K to 12 Program!"

K to 12 is the program covering Kindergarten; six (6) years of primary education, four (4) years of Junior High School, and two (2) years of Senior High School - which makes it 12 years. 

So basically, there is an additional 2 years in high school before reaching the college level and this is called the Senior High School (SHS). SHS is a two-year specialized upper secondary education where students may choose their field of interest either through Core Curriculum or specific Career Pathways. Grades 11 to 12  are technical-vocational level.

The current DepEd administration is assuring us that this 12-year program would be the adequate period for learning, at the same time being a standard recognition for employees abroad. The question is, is the country ready for this change? The answer is "No."

Additional years of studying will cause a problem not just to students but of course to parents who are sending their kids to school. It just means that the parents need to earn out more money for the tuition and miscellaneous fees of their children to make sure that they will be educated. According to the survey, one in every ten or about 4 million Filipino children and youth was out-of-school in 2013 and there is a great possibility that this rate will increase due to additional two years in education. Poor families would not afford the additional expenses especially when they have no enough money to spend even in food and shelter alone.

Moreover, I don't think that the government can provide the money to subsidize for two more years of education especially in public schools since it does not even have enough money to fully support the previous 10-year basic education program, much more if it's 12 years. Schools are lacking of classrooms, academic facilities and technology, textbooks, and even qualified and well-compensated teachers. DepEd should invest more in improving the quality of academic system of our country that includes giving a long-term solution for the mentioned issues, rather than creating more years of studying. Why do we have to follow what the rest of the world is doing when we can keep up with the fast pace of the international job standards, in the first place? We can do whatever they can. We are waaaay better than them!

K to 12 will offer specialized courses for Grades 11 and 12 in order to prepare them for a more on-the-job kind of learning which will help students to get jobs right after they finished high school if they want to, but BUSINESS FIRMS WILL NOT HIRE HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES, for crying out loud! Not that I am degrading those who did not had the chance to go to college. I know that there are lots of people around the globe who became successful even without college degree, however, the present situation is different. The competition on the working world is fierce that even college graduates nowadays have difficulty in getting a job, much more if what you only have is your high school diploma. Get real, we don't need longer years of studying. We need a BETTER EDUCATION in which the government is failing to provide us, sad but true.

We don't know where this K to 12 would bring us --- to success or to failure of getting a college diploma. Now that it is being implemented, let us just hope for the best while working hard for a better future.

Way to go, Philippines!