K-12 'not a failure'; weak points must be addressed —TESDA
The K to 12 curriculum in the country "is not a failure," it only needs to address its weak points, an executive of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) said.
"I’m not saying it’s a failure. Lahat po naman ng bansa (All countries) has to really have this K-12," TESDA Deputy Director General Rosanna Urdaneta said in a Palace briefing on Tuesday, Feb. 27.
Urdaneta stated this when asked if the K to 12 system in the country was applicable to the current Philippine setting.
She explained that the country needed to be at par with industries locally and internationally to ensure employability of Filipino graduates.
"Kung hindi naman po tayo magiging at par with them, then wala na rin pong kukuha sa atin even locally because may mga tinatawag po tayo na mutual recognition of skills, mutual recognition din sa professionals, arrangement sa professional field (If we are not going to be at par with them, then nobody would hire us even locally because we have what we call the mutual recognition of skills, mutual recognition of professionals, arrangement of professional on the field). So if we will not be able to comply with this, magkakaroon din po tayo ng malaking problema (we would face a huge problem)," Urdaneta said.
'We are not prepared'
The official, however, admitted that the country was not prepared when it first implemented the program. But the education sector has since realized that the education system must now evolve.
"When you say applicable, it is applicable except that we have to strengthen because it has its weak points. Remember when we did it, we put all our time there, but we are not yet that prepared," Urdaneta said.
"Siguro it has to evolve. And at this point in time, ito na nga iyong realization na (this is the realization that the) education sector that we have to harmonize, we have to help each other and we have to really work on the ano—kasi ang objective lang (because the objective) is to become employable.
With the integration program the government is initiating, Urdaneta said they aim to address the mismatch between the workforce demands and the skills of graduates, especially with the advent of the fourth and fifth industrial revolutions.
"Now, we’re trying to tell ourselves that, of course, with the advent of the fourth and fifth industrial revolutions, we have to concentrate already on robotics iyong mga higher level technologies po (the higher-level technologies)," Urdaneta said.
Not a burden to students, parents
The TESDA official also clarified that the integration of 80 training regulations to the Senior High School curriculum was not an overhaul of the entire program, and it will not cause any burden to the students and their parents.
Senior high school students would be equipped with both a diploma and a national certificate once they graduate using the integrated curriculum. Urdaneta said it would help them be hired by a company or an industry as they already have the competencies, stressing that in case they are unable to pursue their tertiary education, they still have an opportunity to get a job.
"So in terms of parents, wala naman po kaming nakikita na magiging burden sa parents because hindi kami nagdi-disturb ng time. We will stick on the time (we do not see any burden it would cause the parents because we will not be disturbing their time)," the TESDA official further said.
"Mas ang burden po talaga is that, iyong skill ng mga trainors (The burden will actually be on the trainors as their skill) has to be improved such that they will have to really look into the—ano eh, may learning process po kami sa (we have a learning process in) teaching na learn how to unlearn," she added.
On Tuesday, Marcos tasked government agencies to implement the integration of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to the Senior High School curriculum "as soon as possible" as he stressed the need to reskill and upskill the Filipino workforce to meet the demands of the current and future labor market.
READ MORE: Marcos orders tech-voc skills integration to senior high