Introduction

“There’s nothing permanent in this world except change”, according to Heraclitus. Embracing
changes need long adjustments as well as it will bring big impact to each individual who are ready to accept
it.
Philippines are still on process in making changes in its educational system. People under
educational sectors do their best to address the needs of the Filipinos and giving their maximum efforts to
bring quality education that could not only benefit the learners instead to produce progressive individuals
as well as progressive society. As defined by THE GLOSSARY OF EDUCATION REFORM (2015),
curriculum refers to the lessons and academic content taught in a school or in a specific course or program.
It is the main reason why it is a vital factor that could be possibly brings change to the educational system
and needs a complex process before its implementation.
Due to global competition and being alarmed on the skills of the future workers, President Benigno
Aquino III’s Administration and the Department of Education trying to connect to this challenge and main
reason to came up in a big decision and that is to change the curriculum.
His Administration believes that adding more years to the basic education could help to solve the
problem of the large number of unemployment rate in the Philippines, meets global standards and give
more opportunities to the Filipinos to have more time in deciding the most appropriate career that suits the
skills which they acquired. (Capilitan, Cabili, & Sequete, 2016)
K-12 law mandated by the 2013 Enhanced Basic Education Act or also known as RA 10533
(Republic Act No. 10533, 2013), covers Kindergarten and 12 years of Basic Education specifically Six (6)
years of primary education, Four (4) years of Junior High School, and Two (2) years of Senior High School
(SHS), to have enough time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare
graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship.
(hawsnetph, 2016)
Dacquiaog (2012) emphasizes that this is in line with the agenda of President Benigno Aquino III
of having quality education as a long term solution to poverty. In order to achieve these goals, the program
has the following twin – objectives: a.) To give every student an opportunity to receive quality education
based on an enhanced and decongested curriculum that is internationally recognized and comparable b.) To
change public perception that high school education is just a preparation for college; rather than, it should
allow one to take advantage of opportunities for gainful career or employment and/or self - employment in
a rapidly changing and increasingly globalized environment.

This is incognizance with Article IV Section 2 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution which states
that: “The state shall establish, maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and integrated system of
education relevant to the needs of the people and society”. (Daquiaog, 2012)

On the other hand, the newly implemented curriculum is a product of reactions. Senator Ferdinand
"Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. says the K to 12 program, which will add two years of schooling, is not an
effective way to improve the quality of education in the country. Instead, Marcos said that raising the
competency of teachers and upgradi educational materials are the keys to raising the quality of education
of Filipino students. "I'm not sure that just putting two extra years will improve the educational attainment
of our students. What we should do is strengthen the educational system that we have," he said. Senate
Majority Floor Leader Vicente "Tito" Sotto who also against to the implementation of the new curriculum
said that, "Adding two years to basic education will further increase our budget deficit. We need quality
education, not quantity of years in education. We need more schools, not more years in school." Sotto
however said that the high unemployment rate among Filipinos today is not due to lack of intelligence or
skill, but because of the economy's failure to generate the same number of jobs as the number of job seekers
that increase yearly. He added that this proposal will only become a burden to parents, some of whom he
said can't even afford to pay for their children's education under the present 10-year basic education
program.

The introduction of this curriculum harvest negative criticisms, lots of comments and even
reactions. This is because of the approach which is embedded in the curriculum, specifically, spiral
progression approach. It is embedded in the newly implemented curriculum that d econgestion of the
topics for the better understanding and retention to students. In contrast to the old curriculum, the
topics are being compressed to satisfy the need of the subject to be finished in one year. The result
of this is the less retention and understanding to the topics.
This study is conducted to determine the reactions of sectors in the society most specially
mathematics teachers. This simple case study seeks to find out the difficulties and challenges being
faced by the mathematics teacher considering the content and learning, teaching and other issues
concerning Mathematics Curriculum under the implementation of K-12 Program.