K-12 curriculum review every 3 years sought

MANILA, Philippines — Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar is pushing for legislation that will mandate the regular review of the K-12 Basic Education Curriculum to ensure the “employability and competitiveness” of its graduates.

In House Bill 9808, which shall be known as the Batang Magaling Act, Villar underscored the need to regularly review the K-12 curriculum to guarantee that senior high school (SHS) graduates have the “necessary knowledge, training and skills” to land a job in the public and private sectors.

“This bill seeks to reinforce the K-12 program objective by ensuring that SHS graduates are equipped with the knowledge, training and skills demanded in the labor market, whether they have chosen the higher education, middle-level skills development, employment or entrepreneurship exit, thereby enhancing their employability and competitiveness in the workforce,” the measure’s explanatory note stated.

It also seeks the creation of the Batang Magaling National and Local Councils to strengthen the “multi-stakeholder linkages and collaboration,” which shall align the “tracks and strands of the K-12 Basic Education Curriculum ... with the needs of the labor markets.”

It shall mandate local councils to conduct “labor market demand studies every three years, the results of which shall serve as basis for the improvement of the work immersion component of the SHS program and for the creation of the Batang Magaling roadmap.”

“The local councils shall likewise be formed on the provincial, city and municipal levels to ensure that SHS graduates are equipped with education, training and skills demanded by industry partners and government agencies,” the bill stated.

The councils are envisioned to “serve as mechanisms for active collaboration and meaningful communication for the provision of information to the education institutions” with the labor sectors.

“The government must make sure that SHS students are ready for employment when they finish the K-12 program. It is imperative that we arm them with the commensurate knowledge and skills that would make them employable and competitive. This proposed bill is aimed at doing exactly that,” Villar said.

Legazpi: Learning City

Meanwhile, Legazpi City is the new United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Learning City, joining 64 cities in 35 countries in the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC), the Philippine embassy in France said yesterday.

With the inclusion of Legazpi City, the Philippines now has two cities listed in the GNLC. Balanga City in Bataan became a member of GNLC in 2015. — Pia Lee-Brago