The Department of Education is on its third year of implementing the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum.  This program is highly introduced all over the archipelago for improved output in the coming years. The government is expecting the quality of education that is why it changes the curriculum.  Since the curriculum was changed, different strategies were changed and different activities were presented. Trainings, seminars, and workshops were provided to all educators from top to bottom levels. 

Its main goal is to provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills.  But this program that is airing for almost three year has not reached its goal.  Many teachers from different provinces of the Philippines, especially those handling primary education are actually stating that K to 12 BEC Program is not as effective as the old BEC.  Mastery of the concept or subject matter is not attained.

Comments, sentiments, and criticisms of some educators are prompt in a social networking site. Some teacher who posted their comments in their account said, “Pupils in the K to 12 are experiencing difficulty in understanding subjects like Mathematics and Science wherein medium of instruction is Tagalog”. Another concerned teacher said, “BEC is better than K to 12, because of so much recalls and reviews on the latter. Someone also stated, “K to 12 is lacking on Teaching Guides and Learning Material to support learning”.

“Lessons are repetitively presented to students in most subjects in primary”, Julian Young, an educator who is using Facebook uttered. The subjects are also too much for the young minds of our grade school students”, a primary school teacher stated. She added that pupils do not need many subjects, but pupils must be able to learn how to read and comprehend. These lines only show that K to 12 is accepted and followed by the teachers, but they are not seeing that the said curriculum is making their pupils learn unlike in BEC.

            In some regions which are using Tagalog as mother tongue, the lessons in Filipino and Mother Tongue-Based subjects are almost alike.  K to 12 makes the students confused and out of focus, unlike in BEC, students can easily understand the lesson.  Edna Galapia also reiterated that even teachers are also experiencing dilemma in presenting the topic in the K to 12 Curriculum.  How could you make pupils learn if you are also having difficulty to understand the curriculum?, Galapia said.  A grade 9 teacher also expressed her opinion.  She said that the curriculum is very complicated to teach as if her students are bright.

With these scenarios, K to 12 does not attain mastery of the concept and necessary skills that pupils must acquire in their primary schooling. It is also obvious that the change in curriculum is not the key to quality education unless teachers embraced such change.

By: Mark P. Manimbo | T-III | Mariveles National Highschool Poblacion