Alan Cayetano: Better to fine-tune old curriculum than continue a dismal quality of education under K to 12 program

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano has urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to consider fine-tuning the old curriculum the Philippines has been using than pursuing the K to 12 program. 

Cayetano said it is much better to tweak the old curriculum than to stick with a program that has “not been proven to be better” and experience a dismal quality of education. 

Cuba, the senator pointed out, is a country with fewer school years but boasts of a “very good educational systems.”

“Do we want to have the form of a K to 12 program yet the quality of education is poor? Or can we take criticisms that accuse us of not adopting a K to 12 program yet our education is of high quality? If you ask me, I’d rather not have K-12 but we have a higher quality (of education),” Cayetano said during the plenary debate on the proposed 2024 budget of the DepEd on Thursday, November 9.

While most other countries are implementing the K to 12 program, it is necessary to study to see if it is really applicable in the Philippines.

“(There are) all these international studies, but we have to look at what works for the Filipinos,” he pointed out.

The senator said he still believes that the main culprit in the learning poverty in the Philippines is the decrease in school hours over the past years under the K to12 program. 

The latest World Bank report on the quality of education in the East Asia and the Pacific region which showed that nine out of 10 Filipino children cannot read and understand simple, age-appropriate reading material by age 10.

But during the budget debates, the DepEd said more than 2,800 out of 47,000 schools nationwide do double, triple, or even quadruple shifting schedules, which means students only get to learn at school for a maximum of six hours a day, compared to eight hours under the old curriculum.

“For me, one thing that will return us to the right path is having enough time for the learners to actually learn,” the lawmaker pointed out.

At the same time, he lamented that the lack of resources is hindering DepEd from fulfilling K-12’s promise of producing senior high school graduates who are either employable or better prepared for higher education. 

Cayetano said this is one of the reasons why he, and another senator, opposed the approval of the K to 12 program in 2013.

“I opposed that (K-12) saying that I’d rather be seen riding a Volkswagen that isn’t breaking down and looks better, than be riding a Mercedes Benz that’s dilapidated and one you can’t even find spare parts to repair it,” he stressed.