EYESIGHT: On the new system

As I roam around corners of a city around a time which is supposed to be during in school hours I noticed there were a lot of children with tatted shirts playing on the streets, selling something or worst asking for a penny for they opt to buy something to eat.

I wondered how ironic could life be when they should be studying inside the four corners of a classroom, taking down notes or trying to draw their favorite cartoon character but if you try to ask them what are they doing in the streets they would automatically say that they no longer go to school for the lack of money to finance their studies.

This is the sad reality our country is facing when it comes to education. The government could no longer maintain the need of every Juan to right education. Though there are a lot of public schools in the country that would accept students with minimal tuition fee but the problem is that it is not enough to accomodate millions of students and at the same time some students could still no longer afford to be in school.

Thus the government or basically the Department of Education (DepEd) try to make programs that would somehow help or respond to the need of education of our fellowmen who has no capacity to spend four more years after taking their secondary years.

With this situation it created a Republic Act No. 10533 or also known as the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 which is an act enhancing the Philippine Basic Education system by strengthening its curriculum and increasing the number of years for basic education, appropriating funds therefor and other purposes.

This set new face in the education system in the country, for the usual four yeas in secondary level is made to six years, four years in junior high school education and two years of senior high school education. The students engage in the program can choose from four career tracks; academic, arts and design,sports and techtnical-vocational-livelihood track

The proponent of the program believe that adding two more years to the basic education curriculum will improve the performance and competency of Filipino students to cope with International standards. But there will never be an assurance that those students who took the K-12 Program will be a sufficient and well grounded individual in the future.

Under Section 5 of this act " The DepEd shall formulate design and details of the enhanced basic education curriculum. It shall work with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to craft harmonized basic and tertiary curricula for the global competitiveness of Filipino graduates. To ensure college readiness and to avoid remedial and duplication of basic education subjects, the DepEd shall coordinate with the CHED and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)".

This will caused decrease on the percentage of students who would enroll in four year course after they finish their senior high years for they would probably think the skill they gained in their two years of senior years would be sufficient to land a job. With this case, this would bring big problems to those colleges who offer four year course because the demand for them would somehow also decrease.

Moreover, with the advent of highschool students dropping out from entering college and try to work after Grade 12 would probably mean another problem on the face of the employment rate. A lot now would compete to land a job and probably with the increase of those aiming to be employed would mean an increase also on the rate of unemployed. With the scarcity of jobs, more companies would eventually hire and hire employees and yo be able to accomodate them all, they would probably introduce lower wages rates.

But though it has been circulating in the education system of the Philippines for a year, it still face criticism especially to the parents and students who are now part of this new curriculum.

For the parents, adding two more years means an added cost of expenses to the education of their children. Some parents are complaining for the two years spent in Senior High is already equivalent to a two years course in College.

However, they could not do anything about it for the K-12 Program has set it's place in the Constitution. The parents great battle would probably start after their children finished the senior high years, if they would still be able to send their children in college or just allow them to land a contractual job. It was really a great burden on the families who belong on the poverty line because there is no assurance that they would be able to sustain the needs of their children in that point of time.

For the students, the great challenge will lie on it's capability to extend two more years in high school and study four years in College. Well in fact before K-12 was in acted, it was already a great challenge to be a college graduate what more now that there was an added years. Somehow, the government said that they are just preparing the students to be well-equiped and ready to work once they finished their college years. But the big question now, Are there a lot of companies that would accept this graduates because they are now a product of a educational program that could stand against international standards? Or they would again be part of the increasing number of unemployed graduates in the country? Or just an added number on the graduates who are part of an institution away from their course description? Now, you decide is K-12 a problem or a solution?