EDITORIAL - Second thoughts about K to 12 too late

Some people are planning to ask the incoming Duterte administration to put off implementation of the controversial K to 12 program, which adds two years to the basic education curriculum. It may be a little bit too late in the day for that. Prepared or not, K to 12 awaits everyone when doors open for schoolyear 2016-2017 this June.

The first students affected by the program, those who graduated in March from what was then known as fourth year high school and who ought to have gone on to college, have already enrolled themselves in Grade 11, or the first year of senior high school. Consequently, schools had no enrollment for first year college and will not be having any for two years.

Teachers both in high school and college had to make adjustments or else they will find themselves with no jobs. Teaching is a very specialized profession. By training, and subsequently by license, high school teachers cannot teach in college and college teachers cannot teach in high school. A lot of reorientation and new training had to be done to enable anyone to make the shift required.

It is not clear, however, if that has been done, especially in the provinces and rural areas where opportunities for adjustment and the resources to grab those opportunities are hard to come by. The outgoing Aquino government, especially its bull-headed and out-of-touch education secretary who, against widespread opposition, succeeded in ramming K to 12 down everybody's throat, has been worrisomely mum about whether teachers everywhere are truly K to 12 ready or not.

And then there is the matter of accommodation. No problem with urban centers and big schools, but in rural areas where there are no provisions for additional classrooms, things can really become challenging. Most schools in the towns only have accommodations for Grade One to Grade Six. For junior high, they only have enough for Grade Seven to Grade Ten (or what most then First Year to Fourth Year high school). Where to put the first batch of Grade Eleven students is a guessing game.

The problem of accommodation is particularly acute in areas that have been devastated by super typhoon Yolanda. Many schools are still in ruins, with classes in the past three years being held in tents built by foreign governments and organizations. This is truly not the kind of environment to start an ambitious and expansive program such as K to 12.

It is therefore understandable why some would rather have K to 12 postponed. The problem with this tack is everyone, without exception, is no longer ready to go back. Those who would have gone on to college have enrolled in Grade 11. Colleges have not taken in first year enrollees. Teachers have made readjustments or have simply switched to other jobs or gone abroad. The war should have been waged a year or two ago. But as usual, the Filipino put off for tomorrow. Now tomorrow is here.