KABATAAN party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel yesterday said it would be best to just scrap senior high school and revert to the country’s old basic education curriculum if there is no proof that it has significantly improved the quality of education in the country since its introduction under the last Aquino administration.
The lawmaker, a member of the militant Makabayan bloc, made the statement after a technical working group meeting on the substitute bill to House Bill No. 7893 or the “K+10+2” curriculum, the last two years of which will be preparatory to the university education similar to the foundation of college courses in Europe.
Manuel, 28, said the quality of education does not depend on the number of years in school but on “instruction, facilities, and budget.”
“If it can’t be proven that senior (high school) has contributed to the quality and readiness of high school graduates to go to college or work, it would be better to scrap it so that the Filipino youth won’t be made to suffer, profited from, given false hopes and experimented,” Manuel said.
The K to 12 Program covers kindergarten and 12 years of basic education: six years of primary education, four years of junior high school, and two years of senior high school.
Calls were made for a revision of the K-12 program after Senior Deputy Speaker Gloria Arroyo filed House Bill No. 7893 or the “K+10+2 program” bill, which seeks to amend Republic Act No. 10533, otherwise known as the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013.
Under the former president’s proposal, Grades 11 and 12 will be made voluntary for students who were able to finish junior high school.
This means that while the bill still covers kindergarten and 10 years of basic education, it gives students the option to take up two additional years of post-secondary or pre-university education to prepare them for professional degree studies.
“In a country like the Philippines where the poverty incidence is 18 percent, there should be an option for the young to graduate from basic education soonest, after four years of high school, so that they can help their parents in their farms or micro-businesses,” Arroyo said in the bill.
Arroyo, who is also a former speaker, said students who want to pursue college education can prepare themselves through the two-year post-secondary or pre-university program after graduating from high school “to enhance their chances of succeeding in college or university and onward to professional licensure.”
In the meeting, resource persons pointed out problems in the K-12 program and the entire education system, including teaching load and class size.
The Department of Education (DepEd) has already formed a task force to review the senior high school program amid calls to revamp the K-12 curriculum, including the proposal to make the last two years of basic education voluntary.
