THE seemingly chronic problems of the Philippine education system have worsened under the first two years of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, with the newly-implemented K+12 program serving as the tip of the iceberg.
Despite administration boasts of increases in the basic education budget, data from the Department of Education itself reveals a different picture.
For this year, the public basic education system has a shortage of 132,483 teachers and 97,685 classrooms. Meanwhile, the DepEd is boasting of having built 22,000 classrooms in the past two years.
Noynoy’s claims of prioritizing education can only be credible if certain vital aspects are omitted.
Private universities and colleges have been given a virtual free hand in hiking their tuition and other fees under a policy of deregulation by the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) while successive budget cuts have led to similar hikes in their state counterparts.
This year, 267 private schools have raised their tuition fees by an average of 10 percent, while the University of the Philippines raised their tuition by around P7,500-P9,000 through an indirect scheme.
Aside from aggravating pre-existing equipment and teacher shortages in public elementary and high schools, the K+12 program is also meant to discourage high school graduates from entering college, thus further justifying the Aquino administration’s lack of regulation and funding in the tertiary education sector.
Teachers and students have pointed this out and we’ll say it again: how can you say that you’ll solve the teacher and classroom shortage with two additional years when you haven’t even solved the original shortage in the first place.
But more importantly, the program seeks to direct students into becoming cheap, semi-skilled workers by giving them technical-vocation education in the additional two years of high school, as opposed to the current practice of having them take up such courses after high school.
Vencer Crisostomo, Chairperson, Anakbayan
“…the K+12 program is also meant to discourage high school graduates from entering college…” What kind of strange thinking could possibly make a person come to such a conclusion? The Philippines is one of a very small number of nations that has not had a 12 year education system for the last 50 or more years. It is high time that the country start to catch up to reality. The reality is that this country is a nation of woefully undereducated people that are not prepared to deal with the 21st century labor and business worlds. The solutions to the education problems are simple. 1. Build enough local schools for EVERY child to have a seat in school for all 12 years plus K 2. Provide FREE transportation to and from school for every student not within walking distance. 3. Hire enough qualified teachers and pay them a living wage. 4. Enforce the “mandatory” portion of the Education laws. A. Arrest and jail the parents of any child of school age not in school. B. Arrest and fire any police not enforcing the law. 5. Make student teaching a portion of the teaching curriculum so all graduating teachers are already experienced. In America each Education major has a semester of student teaching that they pay for and for which they receive a grade. That way they do not have to take “volunteer” teaching jobs just to get the necessary experience to be hired for their first job. The argument I hear, ” but your country is rich so you can afford good schools” is a bogus one. The education comes before the wealth and the lack of education here is a sad crime. The Philippines is an example of poor education being the cause (one of the causes, along with over-population anyway) of lack of wealth as a country. This country should be fabulously wealthy because it is rich in natural resources yet has no idea how to safely and economically develop and use its natural wealth.