The education system in the Philippines has yet to be considered one of the main problems by the national government. Despite the fact that the country was recognized as having the lowest reading comprehension among 79 countries and ranked as one of the weakest in Mathematics and Science.
An educational crisis is happening in the country, but lawmakers and officials downplay this concern by giving us non-effective strategies and questionable fund management for the education sector.
Recently, House Senior Deputy Speaker and former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sought the approval of House Bill (HB) No. 7893, which aims to replace the present K to 12 curriculum, because she claims that it has failed to achieve its main objective of producing job-ready students.
Arroyo cited the study conducted by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) last 2020, which revealed that only one in five, or a little over 20% of Senior High School (SHS) graduates enter the labor force, with the rest opting to continue their education, and there is no clear advantage nor disadvantage [among] SHS graduates compared to [Grade 10] or second-year college completers. In other words, this is aligned with private companies that prefer college graduates or those with job experience to senior high school graduates.
But will HB No. 7893 solve the current education problems? Or will it just further burden the education sector?
In the proposed bill, Arroyo wants the students to receive a diploma after K+10 or JHS. Then they can proceed to help their families “farms or microbusinesses” or take the +2 years of post-secondary or pre-university education, which explains the K+10+2.
If companies prefer a college graduate and deny a K+12 graduate a job, how different would it be compared to a graduate of K+10 education?
Additionally, suppose Arroyo’s bill is passed into law. In that case, it will omit the TechVoc track from the curriculum, as the additional two years in her bill are specified for those who want to pursue professional degrees at a university. It indicates that students who wish to pursue TechVoc careers will lose their opportunities for knowledge and training from DepEd schools since they will be forced to go to TESDA schools instead. Will this bill solve the issue of the education sector when students must be given a broad scope of options to pursue what they are genuinely passionate about?
Foreign countries have acknowledged the importance of technical vocational education in increasing students’ skill and knowledge requirements, making them eligible for jobs in different industries in their countries. If the Arroyo bill is passed, we are losing so many possibilities that this track could offer to the SHS students.
This is just one of the loopholes that this bill comes with. The issues with quality education still pose a significant concern to us.
Instead of pushing House Bill (HB) No. 7893, a budget for research and studies to improve the current education curriculum must be allocated appropriately; a series of comprehensive and target-based trainings in enhancing teaching strategies should also be provided to the teachers for free; and teachers must be compensated accordingly to motivate teaching professions in different fields. Furthermore, a conducive room for learning must be prioritized, and materials should be readily available for learners and teachers.
Instead of allocating a huge budget in confidential funds, lawmakers should prioritize the Special Education Curriculum, which is still a challenge for an inclusive education sector despite the enactment of the SPED Law. In 13,408 public schools, there are only 648 SPED centers: 471 in elementary and 177 in high school. There are only 4,000 SPED teachers, and the saddest part is that 84 percent of municipalities in the country do not have SPED centers. Moreover, there were no comprehensive actions for the SPED learners and their learning during the pandemic, which led to a low turnout of enrollees in the school year 2021–2022, according to statistics.
The education sector of the Philippines has yet to reach its full potential, especially since lawmakers do not implement comprehensive and sufficient actions to improve it. Sex education to combat early pregnancies and unwanted STDs is still not in the curriculum and remains taboo; inclusivity in terms of SOGIESC in schools has little to no action; and fund mismanagement for the education sector, which is prone to corruption, is still a major problem.
Is K+10+2 the formula for quality education? I believe it is not.
Article: James I. Lanquino
Graphics: Patricia Mhae Santos
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