Too early to say if K to 12 is effective or not – DepEd
By Merlina Hernando-Malipot
As it continues to review the K to 12 program, the Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday said that it might be “too early” to say that its implementation is not effective.
Department of Education (MANILA BULLETIN)
DepEd Undersecretary Tonisito Umali, at the sidelines of the ‘First Future’ appreciation lunch of the Philippine for Business Education (PBED) issued a reaction on the statement of House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano that the K to 12 program needs a review for “not living up to its promise” to equip its graduates with the necessary skills for employment.
“We respect what our Speaker said about the assessment on the implementation of the K to 12 program,” said Umali. “We assure you that the DepEd is currently reviewing our K to 12 implementation with respect to everything – from curriculum, to the facilities that we need to procure and acquire to efficiently and effectively implement particularly the SHS portion of the K to 12 program and the K to 12 curriculum,” he added.
While it welcomes the observation of the House on the K to 12 program, Umali stressed that the tool to more “accurately” assess the effective implementation of the K to 12 program “has not yet been completed or finalized.”
“Our first batch of SHS learners graduated only in 2018,” Umali said – noting that DepEd is currently gathering necessary information related to them. “We need to check how many graduates were able to get a job or how many of them applied for a job and we need to check also if how many of them went to college,” he added.
Umali noted that another consideration in the assessment is the possible impact of the implementation of the free tuition law. “It is assumed that many SHS graduates went to college especially with the implementation of the free tuition law, definitely the numbers of those who went to get college education has increased due to this,” he explained.
Furthermore, Umali noted that there is also a need to check if students who completed SHS indeed applied for a job or joined the workforce. “We need to consider also that there were students to help their own family businesses, if any,” he said. One of the exit points of SHS, he noted, is entrepreneurship aside from going to college or getting a job.
Currently, Umali said that DepEd and other concerned agencies in the implementation of the K to 12 program are gathering data. “It could be too early to say that our graduates – who are expected to land on a job – that they were able to get one or not because we’re still on the process of gathering our data and information on this,” he added.
Aside from this, Umali also noted that there are still challenges that needed to be addressed, checked and assessed before “we can fully say” if the K to 12 program is a success or not. “Kailangan pa natin maghintay ng kaunti, baka masyadong maaga pa para sabihin na nangyari na yung ating plano – ang klaro ay ito ay nangyayari na,” he added.
Umali said that by next year, DepEd is planning to release the initial “update and findings” following the ongoing K to 12 review “in line the feedback that we are getting.”
Ultimately, Umali appealed to give the K to 12 “more time” before its effectiveness is measured. “It might too early to say that the implementation of the K to 12 is not successful considering that we only had our first batch of SHS graduates last year,” he said. “We need to check really how many of them wanted to get a job after graduating Grade 12 versus those who went to college or helped their parents in their businesses,” he ended.
Review welcome
In a separate statement issued by DepEd, the agency welcomed the plan of the House of Representatives to review the effectiveness of the K to 12 Basic Education Program.
“Congress and DepEd have worked closely together since the previous budget hearings to address the issues of the K to 12 Program,” the agency said. “A dedicated review session will provide an appropriate venue to comprehensively discuss concerns about the Program and plot out corresponding solutions,” it added.
DepEd noted that with an additional P650 million in the proposed 2020 budget “specifically for the improvement” of the 12-year basic education program, the agency “commits to coordinate and collaborate with the members of the Congress in strategizing effective implementation” of the Program in adherence to Republic Act No. 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 for the benefit of the learners.
DepEd also expressed hope that “the outcome of the review will spur renewed commitment and initiatives among lawmakers, advocates, and other stakeholders in aid of realizing the K to 12 program’s overall goal – hone holistically developed Filipino learners with 21st century skills.”