Marcos frustrated with K-12

Angara: Learning crisis to be solved in three years

MANILA, Philippines — One more voice has been added to the large chorus of critics of the K-12 program – President Marcos.

The President said he shares the frustrations of the senators, citing the added financial burden on parents to send their children to school.

Meanwhile, Education Secretary Sonny Angara has set a timeline to fix the country’s learning crisis, which the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) earlier flagged.

“Within three years, we will be able to address this. We cannot say it will be totally addressed but we will make improvements,” he vowed.

In the second episode of his podcast, Marcos responded to calls by some senators to scrap or reform the program institutionalized into law in 2013.

“It is just expressing the same frustration that I expressed in the first place. Because it’s costing more for the parents because of the additional two years (of senior high school). They will pay for the matriculation. There are many school supplies. Books have to be bought,” Marcos said in a video uploaded to his social media accounts yesterday.

“There is no advantage. They are not getting jobs,” he said, referring to K-12 graduates.

The Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 or K-12 law added two years of senior high school to the Philippines’ basic education system and allows senior high school students to specialize in one of three tracks – technical-vocational-livelihood, sports and arts and design.

Before the enactment of the law, the Philippines was the only remaining country in Asia with a 10-year basic education system. Supporters of the program had pointed out that a 12-year program is the recognized standard for students and professionals globally.

However, some sectors argued that K-12 has not served its purposes and has made education in the country more costly. Sen. Jinggoy Estrada has filed a bill that aims to scrap senior high school, saying it has not fully achieved its goal.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian has proposed the shortening of the duration of college education, warning that the removal of the K-12 program could cause more problems. “But while the law is still K-12, I told Secretary Sonny Angara we would enhance it while it is still there,” Marcos said. “What do we hear often? The skills are not employable. I am good at this skill, but they do not need that kind of skill. We have partnered with the private sector to ask them, ‘What skills do you need?’ ‘What kind of workers will you employ?’” the President lamented.?He said the private sector went one step further by offering to train the students.

Classroom shortage

The President also cited the need to address the lack of classrooms, a problem that he said reflected the neglect of the education sector.

“Imagine, we lack 160,000 classrooms? How did it happen? It was just neglected. We saw Marcos-type classrooms. They were built in the 1970s. Classrooms are only supposed to have a 20- to 30-year lifetime. That should be fixed. They are still being used,” he said, referring to the administration of his late father and namesake.

“Education was really neglected. That’s what happened. There was no effort to help education. That’s why our ratings, especially STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics) subjects, keep going down. And then some do not know how to read,” he stressed.

Marcos recalled talking to teachers who were selling goods to students when he was still governor of Ilocos Norte. Teachers had to do so because of delayed salaries.

“So, my first act as congressman of the second district of Ilocos Norte was to create teachers’ cooperatives for every town. It’s like a savings and loan so you won’t resort to 5-6 (loans with higher interest rates), which will bury you in debt. So, that’s the key. I found out that’s the key – support the teachers,” Marcos said.

He said the government removed the administration duties of teachers, hired many teaching personnel, put in place programs for their retraining and worked with the private sector to build and rebuild school buildings.

The President vowed to remedy the performance audit mechanism for teachers to ensure that it is based on students’ actual performance in tests. He also assured continuous assistance for teachers, whom he called his “idols” and “heroes.”

“I always say, the public school teachers are the hardest working public servants in the whole of government. Everyone else may get angry with me, but I believe that. They really are the most busy. They are doing a lot of things, even those that are not in their job description,” he said.

“They are leaders of their communities. They take care of our children. My God... we have to support them,” he added.

Learning crisis

Angara acknowledged the statement of UNICEF Education chief Akihiro Fushimi that 90 percent of Filipino children in Grade 5 cannot read at their expected level, while 83 percent continue to struggle with basic mathematics.

“Yes, that’s why the Marcos administration is prioritizing education. The President is really prioritizing education,” Angara said.

Fushimi said that learning gaps have widened further in areas such as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), where education outcomes are even lower.

“We can manage it (learning crisis) but we need to act and we have the leadership of the President and he’s promised to also devote resources to it,” Angara added.

He said that there is a learning crisis as students are not learning at the right level.

“The UNICEF called it a crisis because the students are behind in their actual grade level. That’s why we implemented summer programs. The President said we should focus on the basics,” Angara noted.

UNICEF estimates show that by Grade 4, Filipino children typically demonstrate literacy and numeracy skills equivalent to only Grade 1 or 2, indicating a two-year learning delay. In BARMM, this gap is reportedly worse.

At the same time, Angara said the learning crisis has worsened 100 percent during the pandemic.

“There were children who did not know how to read and were forced to stay home. They were not with the teachers, so how can they learn to read? They were only given papers. They cannot learn since they do not know how to read as teachers cannot also visit them,” he noted.

The study’s findings predate the COVID-19 pandemic, which Fushimi said worsened the problem due to prolonged school closures and limited access to alternative learning, particularly among disadvantaged communities.

For his part, Gatchalian urged the government to roll out the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning program without delay as the new school year begins.

“Ensuring our learners master literacy and numeracy is urgent and non-negotiable,” Gatchalian said.

He also urged the government to fully implement the Early Childhood Care and Development System Act “to give our learners a strong foundation because a solid start in early childhood is key to lifelong learning and success.”

Health services

In Quezon City yesterday, Angara, alongside Health Secretary Ted Herbosa and Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte, launched the Clinics for Learners’ Access to School-health Services Plus (CLASS+) at Esteban Abada Elementary School, where at least 500 students and teachers were given free checkups.

The Department of Education said the CLASS+ program will be expanded in other schools nationwide as part of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the DepEd and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

Under the MOU, public school clinics will be linked to local health systems to ensure the delivery of quality primary care services through the Konsulta Program, which covers consultation and health advice; preventive health services; assist patients in accessing services at other partner facilities; referral to hospital if necessary; diagnostic services and medicines.

During the pilot run of the CLASS+, the DepEd facilitated the registration of learners with PhilHealth, their gateway to Konsulta and other PhilHealth packages.

Under the MOU, the DepEd will undertake the creation of a school health package.

Meanwhile, PhilHealth will accredit Konsulta providers from the private sector that can cater to the needs of the students. — Bella Cariaso, Marc Jayson Cayabyab