Is the Government Ready for K-12?

3 years passed when our mindset on mother tongue was unessential, preschooling was optional and the 12-year Basic Education Cycle was boondoggle
wherein more or less, nothing changed except having more and more parents who
are standing against, more and more educators doubting its effectivity and more
and more citizens questioning the governments preparedness as school year 20162017 marks the opening of the first Senior High classes in the Philippines. But now,
as Grade 10 students approach their last year in Junior High, K-12 plays an
important role on track-taking of this new generation of learners. With the
successful outcome of the spiraling of Science and Mathematics and Every Child a
Reader by Grade 1 in these past years, is the Department of Education all set for
the 31 total subjects 15 core and 16 track Senior High Program in the next two
years?
Way back 1925 K-12 proposal, the idea of pushing this curriculum is nothing
new. Being the only remaining country in Asia with a 10-year basic education cycle,
Filipino graduates are left globally uncompetitive, on job mismatch and on higher
unemployment rate. With the Philippines the way it is was left behind, the
implementation of the 12-year BEC was rather late and could have been on-law
before the Aquinos administration. While the sanctioning and budgeting for K-12 in
the past governance would be easily done since education should always be the top
most priority for it is indeed the only foundation of a developing country and the
change we want in the future lies within the youth.
By SY 2016-2017, while the dramatic decline of tertiary enrollees will render
joblessness to most teachers and a huge loss to private colleges; it would also add
inadequate resources and facilities for the incoming SHS students. Though admitted
by the DepEd that they failed to meet the proposed 18,000 new classrooms this
year due to insufficient manpower, budget for it should be enough. Modules should
compensate the lack of textbooks and at the same time, should be adequate for the
1 is to 1 proposed ratio of the DepEd. Meanwhile the chairs, tables and the CR
facilities could be set up easily because after all, the Department of Education
received the highest share of the 2015 budget only for the implementation of K-12s
Senior High School next year and the restoring of most schools in the Yolanda-hit
regions.
Often we fault-finding the programs our government is making for us. Though
changes in rural areas and the remote ones are anticipated to be delayed, still the
government could find a way to not leave anyone behind. In spite of the added
expense for parents in the next two years, it is still guaranteed that what we are
paying for is quality education, and definitely not the quantity of years. The
program that aimed to help students be more armed in college is itself ready for the

changes in the education of the Philippines. And by the year 2020-2021 we could
expect more job employment, more globally competitive graduates and more onfield fresh grads landed on jobs exactly for them which will mark the rise of a
competitive country with the most promising graduates in the future.

By: Zion-Grace Rosareal Grade 9 - Pythagoras