WATTMAG: June 2015 UNVEILING THE NEW GENERATION

K-12 Program Suspend Or Maintain?

K-12 Program, Suspend Or Maintain?

By: nogaraleugim

This curriculum is based from the current education system of many countries of the world. Its aim is to empower the students to gain skill, experience during their high school years. The program starts from the Kindergarten level until Grade twelve (senior high). This program is implemented to support many Filipino families who are not able to afford their children to go into college.

Many Filipinos are arguing whether to suspend or continue the implementation of this program, however, like a single penny everything has two sides. But the real issue is; what is K-12 really? Why do we have reconsidered things about the curriculum and its difference in the Basic Education Curriculum (BEC).

The program covers Kindergarten, six years of Basic Education, four years of Junior High School (Grade 7-10) and two years of Senior High School (Grade 11-12) to provide mastery of concepts and develops lifelong learners; prepare them for tertiary education, employment and entrepreneurship. The curriculum has many salient features: Strengthening Early Childhood Education (Universal Kindergarten), Making the Curriculum Relevant to Learners (Contextualization and Enhancement), Ensuring Integrated and Seamless Learning (Spiral Progression), Building Proficiency through Language (Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education), Gearing Up for the Future (Senior High School), Nurturing the Holistically Developed Filipino (College and Livelihood Readiness, let Century Skills)

These past few weeks, many rumors about K-12 in the social media are rising. Though, undoubtedly many of these rumors are presumed to be true, many still try to defend and show its advantages for Filipinos who are hopeful to get a decent job abroad. Many countries now are requiring their applicants to have at least twelve years of education before you get a job wherein here in our country using the Basic Education Curriculum or ten years of education is not enough. Another problem that the current education system facing right now is the lack of classrooms, budget that would supply sufficient amount of instructional materials for teachers as well as for the students.

The conflict in the implementation of the curriculum does not really lies between the classroom and the instructional materials to be used during class hours, but instead to the student and the cooperation of the parents. If the student does not want to study the implementation of the program would be useless; on the other hand, if the parent does not have enough perseverance to make their children go to school, no matter how the child wanted to they will not be able to attend school. The problem with this program is not really on the objectivity of the curriculum and of the government, but on the stakeholders who are part of the program itself.

As the resolution, the setting of the classroom is not the main problem, but what really is the dilemma are the ones who are going to undertake the program.