K TO 12 REALITY

Parents mixed over additional two years of school next year

Jozasana Gallego is scheduled to graduate from a private school in Cebu City two years from now.

But if the K-to-12 program takes effect next year, then 15-year-old Jozasana will have to spend two more years of Senior High School (SHS) before proceeding to college.

That’s an expense her parents cannot afford.

Her mother Rowena Gallego told her to go back to their hometown in Masbate, where her father works in a school as an accountant.

“Although we have discount on tuition, our situation still isn’t easy. My husband is diabetic and his work as an accountant stresses him out so much.

There’s also a threat that we will be displaced since the lot our house stands on will be used by the landowner for a different purpose,” she told Cebu Daily News.

No difference

The 39-year-old Rowena Gallego, a mother of three, earns by selling food from one town to another in Masbate province.

She said there’s no telling what their situation will be once Jozasana enters senior high school.

“She wants to be a doctor. I choked on that,” Rowena laughed.

She said she and her husband also considered transferring their second daughter to a public high school.

The elder Gallego said an additional two years in the basic education curriculum won’t make a difference if the student is unwilling to learn.

Employable skills

“It’s just so financially burdensome for some of us parents, especially if we want our children to get the best kind of education we can give them. But it’s just the same,” she said.

Gallego said Grades 11 and 12 will be like first and second year in college.

“If a child is unwilling to exert effort and give back to society, then two more years in the curriculum won’t make that much of a difference,” she said.

The senior high school program under K to 12 will be implemented next year.

Roseller Gelig, DepEd Cebu assistant provincial schools division superintendent, said the program will equip high school students with employable skills before they decide to pursue college.

Additional costs

The K-to-12 Program will have one year of kindergarten and 12 years of basic education, instead of the current 10.

Groups opposing the program, like the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), complained about additional costs in schooling due to the additional two years in the basic education curriculum.

But Gelig said this shouldn’t be an issue because education in public high schools is free.

“Why should it be a problem when education in public schools is for free?” he said.

The case in private schools, however, is different.

Beneficial

Out of 235 public high schools in the province, 232 have been identified by DepEd Cebu to offer senior high school in 2016.

Starting next year, one cannot graduate from high school without completing Grades 11 and 12.

While Rowena believes that the additional two years in basic education is “burdensome,” 39-year-old Susana Melgar of barangay Tipolo, Mandaue City believes that the program is beneficial to her children.

Susana, a mother of eight, said she is confident that senior high school is beneficial to students’ education.

She is a stay-at-home mother while her husband Zeikei, 37, is a truck boy who earns P2,000 to P3,000 in a week.

Stepping stone

Four of her children are in school. Susana said her husband’s income is not enough for food, the house rent and other home expenses.

“Nindot man pod na [SHS] (Senior high school is good), at least they’ll be prepared. At least they’ll be ready when they step into college,” she said.

Her eldest child, 15-year-old Jessan, also favors K to 12.

“Okay ra man na nako kay parehas nako duha-duhaan mo-proceed og college, mura siya og steppingstone para makatrabaho (It’s okay for me because like me who’s having second thoughts of proceeding to college, it’s like a steppingstone to find employment),” she said.

Since 2012, Jessan has worked as a helper in a sari-sari store and a canteen and as a babysitter.

Certificate of competency

Gelig said the curriculum for senior high school will equip students with skills that will prepare them for the future, whether it be for employment, entrepreneurship, skills development, or higher education.

Students who pass Grade 10 in 2016 will be the first batch of senior high school graduates.

Gelig said students will be able to focus on certain skills they think they might find useful after high school.

“For example, if I were a student who chose to take up masonry in a school that offers technical-vocational courses and finish, I would get a national certificate which I could use when I apply for a job,” Gelig said.

He said national certificates (NC) or certificates of competency (COC) were previously issued by the Technical Skills and Development Authority (Tesda).

Standard skills

Since Tesda will assess students before they are given their NCs, Gelig said this will assure graduates that the certificates may be used to augment their chances of being employed.

Gelig said the certificates may also be used by graduates to set up his or her own business.

“If I were a graduate of automotive under senior high school, I could start a small car repair shop,” he said.

Senior high school is developed in line with the curriculum of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the governing body for college and university education in the country.

DepEd said K to 12 ensures that senior high school graduates will have the standard knowledge, skills and competencies needed to go to college.

Gelig said they prepared for the K-to-12 program in Cebu five years ago.

90 percent ready

“Here in Cebu province, as far as we are concerned, with our plan for the implementation, we foresee that we could have a very successful implementation of K to 12,” he added.

Gelig said Cebu is 90 percent ready in terms of preparation.

The remaining 10 percent concerns the required number of teachers and classrooms.

Isaiah Wagas, DepEd-7 overall coordinator for senior high school, said 232 out of 235 public high schools in the province were chosen to implement the program.

“The remaining three are integrated schools that just started so they still cannot cater to SHS,” he told Cebu Daily News.

Near target

Last February, 204 schools were validated with 1,069 classrooms available.

DepEd-7 needs 1,602 classrooms for the whole province for 2016 and 2017.

Wagas said they are already “near their target.”

An estimated 70,963 students are expected to enter grades 11 and 12.

Half will enter grade 11 in 2016, while the second half will be in 2017.

Meanwhile, DepEd needs 2,846 teachers for 2016 and 2017.

Last country

Wagas said they will start recruiting teachers before the end of the year.

He said they are now training junior high school teachers for the senior high school augmentation force. “This is for our public school youth,” Wagas said.

The program covers 13 years of basic education with the following key stages:

kindergarten to Grade 3, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 10 (junior high school), and Grades 11 and 12 (senior high school).

The Philippines is the last country in Asia and one of only three countries worldwide with a 10-year pre-university cycle, the others being Angola and Djibouti in Africa.

A 12-year program is found to be the best period for learning under basic education.

It is also the recognized standard for students and professionals globally, studies show.