PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday expressed his frustration over the “neglect” suffered by the educational system that led to an estimated 16,000 classroom gap and affected the quality of teaching, along with the failure of the Senior High School (SHS) level under the K-12 program to deliver its expected outcomes.
The President, in the second part of his Podcast Episode 2, talked about the education system in the country and shared his frustrations about the K-12 program, which, after 10 years of implementation, had failed to provide any real advantage to its graduates, echoing the disappointment of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada about the program.
Marcos said he understood where Estrada was coming from, including the lawmaker’s proposal to scrap the program.
He said that instead of helping students to be employed after they graduate, the program only added to the financial burden of parents who had to spend on two more years of matriculation and buying books, school supplies and uniforms, among others.
“Sa 10 years, wala namang (there was no) advantage. Wala namang naging advantage. Hindi rin nakukuha sa trabaho (They fail to get employed). So, that’s his (Estrada’s) frustration. And that’s also my frustration (in the 10 years of implementation, there was no advantage. They were not able to get jobs. So, that’s his (Estrada’s) frustration. And that’s also my frustration,” he said.
He added that he will let Congress decide what to do with the K to 12 program since it is covered by a law that the Executive is mandated to implement.
The President said he has directed Education Secretary Sonny Angara to do what he can to improve the program, particularly the issue of job mismatching.
Marcos said the government had been working with the private sector on the provision of more skills training for learners to match the needs of different industries and eventually get the students hired after they graduate.
He also said the government is addressing recurring problems in the education sector, such as classroom and teacher shortages.
“Unang-una classroom. Isipin mo, 160,000 classroom shortage? How did it happen? It was just neglected,” he said.
He also observed that there are still a lot of “Marcos-type” school buildings, or those built in the 70s under his father, the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, that are still being used.
He said these buildings were good only for 20 to 30 years and should be rehabilitated to ensure their safety and sturdiness.
The President said that there were also some cases where public school teachers were forced to sell goods or food to their students to augment their incomes, instead of spending their time teaching.
Marcos said there were also cases where teachers would let failing students pass if there were only a handful in a class.
He said the government had adopted measures to address some issues, such as hiring more teachers and non-teaching personnel to lessen the administrative work of teachers and enable them to focus on teaching.
The government had also implemented other programs, such as the establishment of teacher cooperatives, which he first introduced when he was still the Ilocos Norte congressman, to enable them to secure loans, among others.
“Pinabayaan talaga ang education. That’s what happened. There was no effort to help the education (education was really neglected. That’s what happened. There was no effort to help the education),” the President said as he reminded the teachers that his administration would always be there to assist and support them.
“Kayo’y mga bayani para sa akin. Asahan niyo na alam ko na napakabigat ng inyong trabaho. Tutulungan namin kayo hangga’t maaari (You are heroes to me. I know how heavy your workload is. We will support you as much as we can),” he told the teachers.
