The DepEd, CHED, TESDA and other stakeholders have made possible the development of the K-12 Program. The program has been created with the aim of enhancing the quality of basic education in the Philippines which is the one of only three countries in the world that has been providing the K-10 basic education.
The implementation of the K-12 curriculum is next year, June 2016. Why the urgent need to implement the K-12? Below are the reasons why the Philippines needs to work faster on enhancing the quality of basic education:
* The Filipino students rate very low in their achievement scores in the National Achievement Test and in international tests.
* The condensed curriculum which consists of 10 years is actually a curriculum constructed to be covered in twelve years. As a result, the students don’t have enough time to tackle everything they need to learn.
* A research organized by SEAMEO-Innotech revealed that the basic education curriculum of the Philippines is congested specifically in the areas of Mathematics, Sciences and Languages.
* A Filipino finishes high school at an average age of 16 years old or below 18 years old. At this age, they can’t enter employment or join the business world as they can’t sign contracts yet. As a result, they are not adequately prepared to enter the world of work or business. Those who finish high school and cannot go to college for various reasons become exposed to deceitful labor activities or end up unemployed.
* Most secondary education graduates are not yet prepared to undergo to tertiary education. Some of them undergo remedial classes to review their high school even if they are already in college.
* The Philippines’ ten-year basic education program is not recognized abroad. Most of the universities in other countries require 12-years of basic education to enter their college level and practice of profession.
* Philippines is the only Asian country and one out of three globally with 10-year education program.
K to12 means it starts with the Kindergarten level and includes 12 years of both elementary and secondary education. Kindergarten is the first level with pupils aged 5 years old undergoing a standardized curriculum. The Elementary education consists of the 6 years of primary schooling (Gr 1-6), and the secondary education consists of 4 years junior high school which are called Grades 7-10 or HS 1-4, while the last 2 years of senior high school are referred as Grades 11-12 or HS Year 5-6.
The Department of Education developed the K-12 Program in collaboration with government and non-government stakeholders. Enhancing the basic education program is the primary aim of this program.
By: Catherine P. Jarabe | T-III | Antonio G. Liamas Elementary school
