DepEd asked to report to Congress status of K to 12 program implementation
Published Jan 2, 2019 12:37 pm
By Charissa Luci-Atienza
The Makabayan bloc is calling on the Department of Education (DepEd) to report to Congress on the status of implementation of the K to 12 program.
ACT-Teachers Partylist Representative Antonio Tinio
(ALVIN KASIBAN / MANILA BULLETIN) ACT Teachers party-list Representatives Antonio Tinio and France Castro led the filing of House Resolution 2324, citing the "myriad of issues" hounding the implementation of Republic Act 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013. "To make the right of Filipinos to education real, Congress needs to look into the roots of these issues, including the chronic underfunding for the requirements of basic education, and immediately address them, " the group said in filing the three-page resolution. The progressive lawmakers lament that the government has yet to address the persisting shortages in schools and classrooms, particularly for senior high school; other learning facilities including computer and science laboratories and libraries; students' seat and desks, tables and furniture; water and sanitation facilities; textbooks, learning modules, and instructional materials. "The effects of these shortages are borne daily by teachers and other school personnel, parents, and students who are forced to spend out of their own pockets to make these facilities and materials and to contend with large classes, bursting classrooms and other dire learning and teaching conditions, " they said. The lawmakers said notwithstanding the overfunding of private education and because of the underfunding for private education, even official government statistics on the key metrics of access to and quality of basic education such as participation rate or net enrolment rate, retention rate, completion rate (CR) and teachers' welfare and training profiles, leave a lot to be desired. Citing the data from DepEd, 4.8 million were out of schools in school year 2015-2016, an 11-percent increase in five years, with out-of-school children in elementary more than tripled from around 431,000 in 2011 to 1.4 million and out-of-school youth in high school remain high with 3.4 million. "High school completion rate declined, with 1.9 million, or more than a fourth of the enrollees, dropping out in the middle of the school year. Elementary completion rate remain high with about 2.3 million leaving before graduation," they lamented. "All these suggest that far from improving the access of Filipino children to basic education and promoting the rights of teachers and other education workers, the K to 12 program has done quite the opposite," they pointed out. They noted that the K to 12 law is also the subject of various pending petitions filed by representatives of teachers and other school personnel, parents, and students who question its constitutionality on both substantive and procedural grounds. "With the revised curriculum, even the DepEd admits the struggles in integrating the study of Filipino subjects," the Makabayan bloc said. "Even the employability of graduates of K to 12, a much-vaunted promise of the program, is now in question," the group said, citing the statements from the business community as to the lack of job readiness or competence for employment of the first batch of K to 12 graduates. Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao and Kabataan Rep. Sarah Elago joined Tinio and Castro in filing the resolution.. Under HR 2324, the DepEd is directed to report to the House committee in basic education and culture on the status of implementation of the K to 12 program.
ACT-Teachers Partylist Representative Antonio Tinio(ALVIN KASIBAN / MANILA BULLETIN) ACT Teachers party-list Representatives Antonio Tinio and France Castro led the filing of House Resolution 2324, citing the "myriad of issues" hounding the implementation of Republic Act 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013. "To make the right of Filipinos to education real, Congress needs to look into the roots of these issues, including the chronic underfunding for the requirements of basic education, and immediately address them, " the group said in filing the three-page resolution. The progressive lawmakers lament that the government has yet to address the persisting shortages in schools and classrooms, particularly for senior high school; other learning facilities including computer and science laboratories and libraries; students' seat and desks, tables and furniture; water and sanitation facilities; textbooks, learning modules, and instructional materials. "The effects of these shortages are borne daily by teachers and other school personnel, parents, and students who are forced to spend out of their own pockets to make these facilities and materials and to contend with large classes, bursting classrooms and other dire learning and teaching conditions, " they said. The lawmakers said notwithstanding the overfunding of private education and because of the underfunding for private education, even official government statistics on the key metrics of access to and quality of basic education such as participation rate or net enrolment rate, retention rate, completion rate (CR) and teachers' welfare and training profiles, leave a lot to be desired. Citing the data from DepEd, 4.8 million were out of schools in school year 2015-2016, an 11-percent increase in five years, with out-of-school children in elementary more than tripled from around 431,000 in 2011 to 1.4 million and out-of-school youth in high school remain high with 3.4 million. "High school completion rate declined, with 1.9 million, or more than a fourth of the enrollees, dropping out in the middle of the school year. Elementary completion rate remain high with about 2.3 million leaving before graduation," they lamented. "All these suggest that far from improving the access of Filipino children to basic education and promoting the rights of teachers and other education workers, the K to 12 program has done quite the opposite," they pointed out. They noted that the K to 12 law is also the subject of various pending petitions filed by representatives of teachers and other school personnel, parents, and students who question its constitutionality on both substantive and procedural grounds. "With the revised curriculum, even the DepEd admits the struggles in integrating the study of Filipino subjects," the Makabayan bloc said. "Even the employability of graduates of K to 12, a much-vaunted promise of the program, is now in question," the group said, citing the statements from the business community as to the lack of job readiness or competence for employment of the first batch of K to 12 graduates. Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao and Kabataan Rep. Sarah Elago joined Tinio and Castro in filing the resolution.. Under HR 2324, the DepEd is directed to report to the House committee in basic education and culture on the status of implementation of the K to 12 program.