A REACTION PAPER REGARDING THE PROPOSED K-12 EDUCATIONIN THE PHILIPPINES

The K-
12 Education program by theDepartment of Education,said to refurbishthe basic and secondary educati
on curriculum by adding two more years to the system,is arguably one of the most drastic and controver
sial programs of the Aquinoadministration.The intention is good but the proposed solution is questionab
le. Will it yield thedesired outcome or just result to a greater problem?The Department of Education clai
ms that K-12 will solve the annual growingnumber of out-of-
school youth.This sounds good but does it really address the problem concerning the country’s out-
ofschool youth. My question is how? when in fact, students and parents complainthat it would be an ad
ded burden to them particularly to poor families. It is human natureto prioritize physiologic needs befor
e anything else. This in return might just result to ahigher dropout rate.There should be a proper care fo
r this marginalized, deprived and delinquentsfraction of the population and K12 is just not it.They also sa
id that K-
12 will address low achievement scores and poor academic performance of elementary and high school
students and those enoughresources to implement this is available.DepEd should focus more on quality
before quantity. What the poor performingstudents direly needs is for the development and establishm
ent of a quality educationsystem that caters to their needs. Making Philippine education longer does not
guarantee quality education.Budget deficit is still one of the foremost problems of our country but if the
y claimthat resources are at hand, then why not allocate this to a more prominent and directproblem of
our education. Among the main issues that relates to this are the number of schools and classrooms, the
number of teachers, and even the availability of books andother school supplies.The predicament of the
Philippine education system rooted not on the number of years spent in the academic institutions but r
ather on the conditions and foundation on which it keeps going

#16 Fang, Maria C

auline M.2F-
PHReaction Paper
Regarding the K-
12 Education in Ph
ilippines he educa
tion s!ste" in the P
hilippines pursues
the achie e"ent o
$ e%cellentunderg
raduates in ele"en
tar! and secondar!
le el. &t present t
he 'epart"ent o$E
ducation asserts t
he addition o$ t(o
"ore !ears in the )a
sic education o$ st
udents, (hichthe! s
aid that (ill )ene$it
not onl! the Filipi
no !outh )ut all the
Filipinos in thePhil
ippines. his propo
sal is part o$ P-
no!*s Educational
Re$or" Progra", h
e ad"inistrationco
ntends that the i"p
le"entation o$ suc
h progra" (ill resol
e the une"plo!"e
nt in thecountr!. +
n as "uch as e"plo!
"ent in the Philippi
nes is concerned, t
he K-
12 educationalso r
esponds to the $a
ct the "ost countri
es in the (orld alre
ad! ha e in their e
ducationalinstituti
ons. ith this, the
standards o$ thes
e countries is high
er than (hat our co
untr!has, thus, cre
ating an e%pansio
n in the glo)al co"p
etenc!. ac o$ sch
ools and classroo"
s is one o$ the "ai
n pro)le"s in the P
hilippines,(hich th
e go ern"ent need
s to resol e. +t is i
"portant that the s
tudents sta! in a pl
acethat is $a ora)l
e $or stud! (hile th
e! are a(a! $ro" ho
"e. +n addition, th
ere is alread! asho
rtage o$ educators
in schools that "ol
ds the "ind o$ lear
ners, (ith the teac
hers goinga)road t
o teach or doing a
nother /o). &nd th
is de$icienc! has )
eco"e a pro)le" in t
hecountr! $or the
past se eral !ears.
Finall!, there is a n
eed $or the stude
nts to utili0e thea
ppropriate instruc
tional "aterials an
d school e uip"ent
$or the" to learn
and gainnecessar!
no(ledge. his lac
o$ ha ing )oo s
and other school s
upplies clearl! sho(
sthe scarcit! in the
pu)lic schools. he
re is nothing (rong
 in (hat the go ern
"ent (ants to ai". +
t is in $act anindic
ation to aspire $or
s"oothing higher
one "ust carr! out
certain actions to
achie ethe goal. H
o(e er, the ad"inis
tration "ust also re
ali0e and clearl! u
nderstand (hat the
educational s!ste"
in the Philippines
needs to de elop
pri"aril!.En$orcing
this K-
12 3asic education
Progra" enhances
and de elops stud
ents.Ho(e er, our
go ern"ent "ust al
so consider so"e p
ro)le"s and conse
uences that (illenc
ounter )oth the i"p
le"enting $actor a
nd the recipient.
he pu)lic has not )
een "adeso er! a(
are o$ the costs a
nd the )ene$its in i
"ple"enting this pr
ogra". he conte%
t o$this progra" is
not er! (ell no(n
to the pu)lic. &nd
the teacher should
)e "ade a(areo$ (h
at ind o$ curricul
u" (ill )e gi en to t
he learner and (ill
ta e too "uch ti"e
to plan so"e strate
gic approach to rul
e out so"e i"plicati
ons as to the er