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YEARENDER: The ailing education system and the K + 12

that is doomed to fail

PUBLISHED ON JANUARY 6, 2012

“Even if the curriculum is changed but the existing problems of shortages are not addressed,quality education will still not be attained.” – France Castro, Alliance of Concerned Teachers

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL

 Bulatlat.com

Sidebar: Still struggling to teach with so little 

MANILA –To save the ailing education system in the Philippines, President Benigno S. AquinoIII and Education Sec. Armin Luistro declared that their education reform agenda would center on the implementation of the K + 12 program. Patterned after the education system of other 

countries, the K + 12 program aims to increase the number of years of basic education.

According to a primer produced by the Department of Education (DepEd), the K + 12 programwould require students to undergo universal kindergarten, six years of elementary education(Grades 1-6), four years of junior high school (Grades 7-10 or 1st year to 4th year high school)and two years of senior high school (Grades 11-12 or 5th year to 6th year).

This was precipitated by the low scores Filipino students got in national and internationalachievement tests, especially the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study(TIMSS). Developed by the International Association for the Evaluation of EducationalAchievement (IEA), the TIMSS is an international assessment of the math and science

knowledge of fourth and eighth grade students around the world. First administered in 1995, theTIMSS is being conducted every four years.

The mandatory universal Kindergarten was implemented this school year (2011-2012). In schoolyear 2012-2013 the new curriculum under K to 12 program will be introduced to incomingGrade 1 and first year high school students. The senior high school will be implemented inschool year 2016-2017.

However, progressive teachers and student groups remain skeptical that the K + 12 programwould save the ailing education system in the country.

“What the government should prioritize are the shortages in the basic education system likeclassrooms, books, chairs and teachers,” France Castro, secretary-general of Alliance of Concerned Teachers said.

Even DepEd’s data shows that there are thousands of shortages of chairs, classrooms, books, andmost importantly teachers. The mandatory kindergarten made the 152,569 shortages inclassrooms more pronounced. Worse are the shortages in teachers. Currently, there is a shortageof 103,599 teachers.

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ACT calls the implementation of universal kindergarten a disaster because in schools such as theCorazon Aquino Elementary School in Batasan, Quezon City, the five-year old pupils lackedchairs to sit on and were cramped in the few classrooms made available.

Castro said ACT also wants Filipino children to have quality education. But she finds no reason

to be optimistic because of the perennial shortages.

“They [Dep Ed officials] won’t listen anymore. It’s like they’re deaf,” Castro said disappointed.Castro said a summit was held last Dec. 12 on the K to12 curriculum attended by DepEd officialsand public school teachers. She said they raised the problem of shortages as an obstacle to theorderly implementation of the K to12 basic education program but to no avail.

Kindergarten disaster

According to ACT, the implementation of Kindergarten was not included in the 2011 budget of P207 billion ($4.7 billion). Because the program was not made into law, according to ACT, there

was no allocation for its implementation. And because there was no fund allocation, instead of hiring regular teachers, the DepEd hired volunteer teachers who they paid a meager P3,000($69.76) per class.

To address the shortage of classrooms, pupils were put in whatever space was available inelementary schools. In DepEd order No. 37, libraries, science laboratories, home economics buildings, resource centers and other available spaces were identified for use of kindergartenclasses.

According to Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns, there should be one chair per pupil, onecomfort room per classroom since the children are not yet toilet trained and one teacher for a

maximum of 25 pupils. “These are the prerequisites of a Kindergarten program. But since thereis no budget for this program this is not happening in many elementary schools in the countryobviously because, first and foremost, the DepEd did not really prepare for this program,” saidMelissa San Miguel, spokeswoman of Salinlahi.

Government’s neglect of social services like education is reflected in the budget. Though DepEdhad the biggest allocation for 2012, the P234 billion ($5.3 billion) budget is still insufficient toaddress the shortages.

Under the Aquino administration, the budget of DepEd was increased. From P175 billion ($4million) in 2010, Aquino increased the budget to P207 billion this year. “For 2011, it is a

welcome development that there was a slight increase in the budget for basic education. Yet,despite this increase, it is crucial to note that the increase remains grossly insufficient inaddressing the needs of basic education,” Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raymund Palatino said.

The following table shows the shortages and the plans of the Aquino administration to addressthe shortages.

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This lack of budget, regrettably, did not ensure a smooth school opening as shortages intextbooks, chairs, classrooms and teachers continue to plague basic education, said Palatino.“The insufficient government spending to basic social services like education remains to be amajor issue that paralyzes the qualitative functioning of our education system.”

Not for free

Suzzana De Jesus, principal of Demetrio Tuazon Elementary School admitted that not everythingin public schools is for free.

“Since what we need here in school like books and other learning materials are not provided tous ahead of time we really have to sell these in order to provide the students their books,” DeJesus said in an interview with Bulatlat.com.

Even as the DepEd announced time and again that no fees would be charged to students, theinsufficient budget allocation forced teachers to sell not only learning materials but also pad papers, pencils, even snacks.

That is why the idea of another two years in basic education is an added burden to some mothers.In a news report, a mother of five said, “It is difficult, giving them snacks every time they go to

school plus their transportation.”

Because of poverty, many students are forced to dropout from school. In 2008, for every 100 pupils who enter grade one, only 66 finish grade six; for every 58 students who enroll in firstyear high school, only 23 enter college and only 14 graduate.

Palatino said, “A quick glance at the outside world is enough to provide us a concrete face for these out-of-school youths – they are the young workers in construction, they are the young

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involved in drugs and prostitution, they are the sellers who knock at out car windows, they arethe passionate dreamers who painfully awaken to the grim reality that they just have to waivetheir dreams of becoming scientists, doctors, engineers, teachers.”

In haste again

In an interview with Bulatlat.com, Castro said there are still gray areas in the K to12 program.

“A massive retooling and retraining of teachers will be needed in order to teach students insenior high school,” Castro pointed out.

She added that the training of teachers would require a substantial budget. However there is noidentified budget for it.

Castro also said that at this stage, the DepEd is still finalizing the curriculum. “After finalizingthe curriculum, they (DepEd) will have to come up with the textbooks, then the teacher’s

manual. When will these be finalized? We will have our training this summer. What will be thecontent of our training if the requisites are not even ready?”

There is also a drastic change in the curriculums of Math and Science in the K to12 program,said Castro. A spiral curriculum will be used in implementing the K to12 program. Under thespiral curriculum, according to the Education.com website students repeat the study of a subjectat different grade levels, each time at a higher level of difficulty and in greater depth.

However, being a teacher herself, Castro said this approach is not advisable. “This approach isnot really helping the students. That is why we would prefer teaching them pure Algebra or Statistics because it sticks to them. In a spiral curriculum, the students tend to forget the lessons

 previously taken because of its chopsuey design.”

Chopsuey is a Chinese cuisine in which different kinds of vegetables are mixed together. In theimplementation of K to12, one subject like Science for example will be divided into four classifications/specializations for the whole school year. In this method, according to Castro,more than one teacher will tackle one subject like Science. DepEd said there would be teamteaching.

“For example, in Science, one teacher who specialize in general science will teach it during thefirst grading period, A teacher who specializes in biology will teach during the second grading period, and a teacher specializing in chemistry will teach during the third grading period,” Castro

explained.

Castro pointed out that this approach requires teachers with specializations. The huge number of shortages in teachers will definitely make it difficult to fill in the needed teacher positions. “Achemistry teacher cannot teach biology simply because that is not her undergraduate course ”

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She also added that there is still no final curriculum that they will use for the implementation of the K to12 program. Castro said the DepEd and Tesda presented different curriculums during theDec. 12 summit. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said they are still not ready.

The DepEd, Tesda and CHED are the lead agencies that will ensure the smooth transition from

the existing 10 year education cycle to the K to 12 basic education cycle.

Castro criticized the government’s haste in implementing K+12 program without concrete andcareful planning. “What the DepEd is trying to show here is that they are accomplishingsomething. The implementation is once again in haste, which is why the result would be adisaster. They do not foresee the possibilities.”

Addressing the wrong problem, coming up with a non–solution

In his privilege speech delivered in Congress, Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino said,“I very much understand that added learning and training period in elementary and high school

could be beneficial for our youth. The K to 12 proposal, however, is rendered problematic by thecontext within which it is set to be implemented and the direction it intends to take,” Palatinosaid.

Palatino pointed out that the length of school-cycle has nothing to do with the quality of education. Citing the study entitled “Length of school cycle and ‘quality’ of education”, Palatinosaid, educators Abraham Felipe and Carolina Porio found out that “there is no correlation between the length of school cycle and the quality of education.” By using TIMSS as basis of thestudy, Palatino said the findings underscore that some countries with the same school-cycle asthe Philippines have high scores; other countries with longer cycles than the Philippines havelower scores.

Palatino also added that the framework of the K to 12 program is to produce cheap semi-skilledworkers for the global market. “In addition to this issue of non-correlation between the length of school-cycle and quality of education, it is important that we also grasp the framework of K to12. Simply put: the plan wants to rapidly generate employable high school graduates that will fillin the demands of the foreign market.”

Castro stressed, “The major problem here that needs to be addressed is the shortages. But insteadof addressing this, the DepEd is implementing programs that are not really the solution to the problem. It’s obvious here that they are not recognizing it (the shortages).”

Even DepEd Sec. Armin Luistro said the K to12 program would not solve the existing problemsof the country like unemployment. “He said in the summit that K to12 will not assure thestudents that they will have jobs after their six years in high school. It came from his mouth thatK to12 is just an attempt to help solve the problem of education but it is not the solution,” saidCastro.

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“Even if the curriculum is changed but the existing problems of shortages are not addressed,quality education will still not be attained. What only awaits the students this coming school year 2012-2013 is chaos.”

Palatino stressed that to genuinely improve the quality of basic education; the government should

 put a stop to plugging the dreams of the people to the demands of the foreign market. “Instead,our focus should be completely re-oriented to produce a holistically trained workforce that

contributes to national industrialization and development.”