K-12 blues

Starting last Monday, all those who finished their fourth year in high school under the old curriculum are supposed to be enrolled now as Grade 11 students under the extra two years required by the K-12 law. Unfortunately, not all of them are able to do so for one reason or another. But most of them are likely not able to enroll for having not enough family income to support their extra stay in high school.

Perhaps, many of these students whose parents could not afford to enroll them to Grade 11 have now joined the ranks of thousands of out-of-school youth, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV lamented. Trillanes fears the seeming rush to implement the K-12 may worsen the country’s social problems for the incoming administration of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte who will inherit them by the end of the month.

Effective noon of June 30, outgoing President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III turns over to Duterte as his successor in office at Malacanang. The turnover is not only the powers and authority of the highest office of the land but also the country’s problems that the former President will leave behind to the new Chief Executive.

As Chief Executive, President Duterte is tasked, among other things, to implement the mandates of the laws, including the K-12 program, the constitutionality of which remains pending at the Supreme Court (SC).

Trillanes echoed the warning of a potential “crisis” in our country’s education sector not because he now belongs to the opposition ranks at the Senate. It was the natural consequence for Trillanes who ran but lost his vice presidential bid during the May 9 elections. It was towards the last stretch of the campaign period when Trillanes locked horns with Davao City Mayor Duterte.

The Senator accused then PDP-Laban presidential candidate with alleged unexplained wealth stashed in bank deposits, some in alleged joint accounts with Duterte’s children. Trillanes subsequently filed the complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman and now pending against the incoming President.

The Senator vowed to respect the plurality of Filipino voters of 16 million who have made known their choice of who will be the new leader of the country. Trillanes assured the incoming leadership he will hold his peace and give the newly elected President the three to six months timeframe promised during the campaign to solve the pressing problems on crimes, illegal drugs and corruption.

The beef of Trillanes against K-12 thus had nothing to do with his political differences with Duterte in the past. Trillanes happens to be one of the petitioners who have pending appeals filed last year at the SC asking to stop the implementation of K-12 due to, among other things, the law’s alleged unconstitutionality.

The High Court, however, has not issued any temporary restraining order (TRO) up to now. Without the SC injunction, the Department of Education (DepEd) went ahead starting this school year with the K-12’s full implementation, four years after President Aquino signed this into law.

DepEd is the chief government agency mandated to implement the K-12 in all public and private schools throughout the country. The Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) are the support agencies to implement the K-12.

DepEd-led preparations through these years for the phasing in of K-12 to ensure its smooth transition, however, went for naught.

It turns out not everyone has prepared well for the K-12. This was more pronounced for quite a number of public schools, especially in the far-flung and impoverished areas of the country. And the government preparations apparently failed to account the continuing income disparity across the country that made enrollment to K-12 much more difficult for most families still living below poverty level.

While we continue to hear about the economic gains as among the legacy of the outgoing Aquino administration, the “inclusive growth” promised by the end of its term in 2016 did not materialize for the greater many still impoverished Filipino families.

Trillanes raised the alarm bells this early for the incoming DepEd Secretary Leonor Magtolis-Briones who takes over the K-12 implementation. Briones got to know initially what these problems are from outgoing DepEd Secretary Br. Armin Luistro who invited her to join him last Monday to inspect the K-12 implementation at the Commonwealth School in Quezon City.

In our weekly breakfast forum last Wednesday, Trillanes along with DepEd assistant secretary Jesse Mateo and OB Montessori Center founder and president Amb. Preciosa Soliven were our guests at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay at Café Adriatico in Malate.

As of this writing yesterday, enrollees reached 862,000 students who are now in Grade 11. But the total is still way below the projected 1.4 million students supposed to enter Grade 11 in both private and public high schools. Thus, Trillanes is worried about the looming “crisis” of increasing the ranks of out-of-school youth in the country for students who could not continue their education due to K-12.

Under the K-12, students who finished junior high school last March are required to complete the additional two years in basic education – known as senior high school – before they can proceed to college.

Luistro noted a possible 200,000 to 400,000 students may not proceed to Grade 11 this year given the number who actually enrolled as of last Monday.

Mateo clarified during our breakfast forum the enrollment figures would only stabilize after two weeks as data are still coming in, citing transmission problems from schools in far-flung areas.

But Amb. Soliven and Mateo assuaged the Senator there are options available for students to apply for voucher aid from DepEd, or avail the Alternative Learning School and TESDA skills training for immediate employment after graduation for low-income students.

Trillanes, however, was unconvinced, citing the reality that there are already poor students dislocated by K-12 and might end up as social problem for the incoming administration becoming juvenile criminals, if not fall to illegal drugs and prostitution.

We have seen the birth pains of the maiden implementation of K-12 at the opening of classes for school year 2016 to 2017. For now, these K-12 blues seem to be based on fears but might turn into reality, if not addressed this early.