Three years ago, the Department of Education under the leadership of Secretary Armin Luistro proposed the K-12 Basic Education Program. At that time, that agency was in its full battle gear fighting so hard in the spirit of educational reform against critics coming from different sectors of the society. Many claimed that the proposal to take a quantum shift in our educational system is a pure display of youthful bravado. The poor which constitutes a considerably large chunk of our population argued that adding two more years to the secondary education is no less than a prolongation of the economic burden brought about by sending students to school. Still others asserted that the proposed program is impossible and is far from being actualized at least in terms of logistics (infrastructure, human resource, and equipment). Aside from these relatively substantial attacks on the merits of the proposed program, however, what other challenges does the Department of Education have to confront in implementing the K-12 education reform?
Sergio (2012) enumerated three challenges to the K-12 education reform namely (a) curriculum design, (b) human resource, and (c) required infrastructure. Each of these challenges will be elaborated briefly in the succeeding discussion.
One of the features of the K-12 program is the decongestion of the curriculum which could be attributed mainly to the additional two years in the secondary education (Okabe, 2013). Okabe (2013) further explained that under the K-12 program, the content that was congested in four years will be scattered and taught in a span of six years. The challenge, however, is posed as soon as the questions of what content to include, remove, or add and how are asked. Realizing this difficulty, Cruz (2010) argued that revising the curriculum is not only a matter of deleting a subject here and inserting a subject there. Instead, Cruz (2010) claimed that revising the curriculum especially in the context of implementing the K-12 program entails an approach holistic in nature where various factors are taken into great consideration.
Based on a report by the Department of Education (DepEd, 2010a), 103, 599 additional teachers would be needed once the K-12 program is implemented. This challenge is very evident, Sergio (2012) argued, not only in the proposed program but also in the previous education system. One aspect noteworthy in the previous system is the shortage of teachers which could be best attributed to the fact that budget is limited. Cruz (2010) argued that employing additional teachers to fully implement the K-12 program would be more of a challenge. Earlier, Torp and Sage (1998) reported this challenge met by other countries who already had implemented the program.
Required infrastructure as one of the major challenges in implementing the K-12 program reflects the seemingly impossibility of its actualization. As per the data reported by DepEd (2010a), 153, 569 classrooms, 13.2 million armchairs, 95.6 million books would be needed to fully implement the program. At present, classroom shortage is a serious subsisting issue not to mention the shortage of other facilities and equipments. And Sergio (2012) claimed that implementing the K-12 program vis-à-vis the annual budget allocated to the Department of Education would substantially increase the shortage.
Despite these challenges, however, the Department of Education together with all the stakeholders of the learning community will hold hands in implementing the K-12 program. Under the banner of true education reform, these challenges, like that of the aforementioned criticisms, will be overcome.
References
Cruz, I. (2010, September 30). Changing the curriculum. The Philippine Star . Retrieved August 18, 2011, from http://www.philstar.com/ Article.aspx?articleId=616556&publicationSubCategoryId= 442
Department of Education. (2010a, November 2). Briefer on the enhanced K+12 basic education program. Retrieved August 18, 2011, from http://www.gov.ph/2010/11/02/briefer-on-the-enhanced -k12-basic-education-program/
Okabe, M., & 岡部正義. (2013). Where does Philippine education go?: the” K to 12″ program and reform of Philippine basic education.
Sergio, M. R. S. (2014). K-12 Education Reform: Problems and Prospects.Gibón,9, 70-80.
Torp, L., & Sage, S. (1998).Problems as possibilities: Problem-based learning for K-12 education. ASCD.
By: Maria Cristina E. Austria |T-II|Morong National High School
