Scrapping K to 12 would be counterproductive – Palace

MANILA, Philippines – Malacanang defended yesterday the K-12 program, saying scrapping it would be counterproductive as the Philippines would have to keep up with the rest of the world in terms of basic education.

“Hopefully, this will be studied carefully by our fellowmen (so) they will understand K-12 is badly needed. There is a strong need for this to be implemented because this has been deferred for decades,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said over radio dzRB.

When the K-12 program was being proposed in the past, Coloma said the answer was always, “we are not ready.”

“When are we going to be ready if we are not going to start it, if we are not going to study what needs to be done that can only be acquired through direct experience?” Coloma said.

“So hopefully we will reflect first so we will understand the logic and importance of K-12,” he added.

Militant youth and other groups are calling on incoming president Rodrigo Duterte not to pursue the program.

Duterte asked for a month to look into it.

He said he would consult with Lyceum of the Philippines University president Peter Laurel, whom he was eyeing as education secretary, regarding the matter.

Laurel expressed support for the program, calling it one of the biggest reforms in education in the country since the creation of the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education.

Before the K-12 program, kindergarten was not compulsory among school children and basic education was only 10 years.

At the time the program was implemented by the Aquino administration, Coloma said the Philippines was the only country in Asia, along with two other countries in Africa, that did not have at least 12 years of basic education.

Coloma said providing students additional foundation in terms of knowledge and education was always beneficial.

He said on top of compulsory kindergarten, Filipino students would have two more years in senior high school where they could choose which technical-vocational courses to take, like what the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority was doing.

Other tracks that can be pursued include arts, music, dance and other creative fields.

“We can see that these are not ordinary two years of additional education. The students are given wider range of options,” Coloma said.