The fate of the K-to-12 education hangs on a balance as Vice President-elect Sara Duterte admitted on Monday, June 20, that it will be taken up by the next administration.
Duterte, the incoming Education chief, said the country’s K-12 program, which has been under attack since its implementation during the 2012-2013 academic year, is something that needs to be discussed.
“It cannot be decided overnight but initially it is something, napag-usapan namin ni (we talked about it with) President Marcos,” she said in a media briefing in Davao City.
For now, it looked like Duterte plans to study the implementation of the program that has extended the country’s elementary and secondary education to 12 years instead of the previous 10.
The first batch of graduates who have undergone the full implementation of the K-12 program will graduate high school in 2024.
“He (Marcos) already gave instructions with regard to the review of the implementation of K-12 program of DepEd,” Duterte said.
ACT and Kabataan Partylists have called on the Duterte government to scrap the program, saying that it didn’t address the problems in the country’s education system but has only added to the burden of parents who have to send their kids to school for an additional two years.
The K-12 program, passed during the Aquino administration, aimed to make Filipinos more globally competitive through an allegedly enhanced curriculum that would’ve made them master skills and concepts.