The K To 12 Basic Education Program ARTICLES

K to 12 Articles 2013
The K to 12 Basic Education Program

Source: Official Gazette
What is K to 12?
Naninindigan pa rin po tayo sa ipinangako nating pagbabago sa edukasyon: ang
gawin itong sentral na estratehiya sa pamumuhunan sa pinakamahalaga nating yaman:
ang mamamayang Pilipino. Sa K to 12, tiwala tayong mabibigyang-lakas si Juan dela
Cruz upang mapaunlad—hindi lamang ang kanyang sarili at pamilya—kundi maging ang
buong bansa. – Pangulong Benigno S. Aquino III
WHAT IS THE K TO 12 PROGRAM?
The K to 12 Program covers Kindergarten and 12 years

of basic education (six years of primary education,
four years of Junior High School, and two years of
Senior High School [SHS]) to provide sufficient time
for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong
learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education,
middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship.
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SALIENT FEATURES
Strengthening Early Childhood Education (Universal Kindergarten)
Every Filipino child now has access to early childhood education through
Universal Kindergarten. At 5 years old, children start schooling and are given the means
to slowly adjust to formal education.
Research shows that children who underwent Kindergarten have better

completion rates than those who did not. Children who complete a standards-based
Kindergarten program are better prepared, for primary education.
Education for children in the early years lays the foundation for lifelong learning
and for the total development of a child. The early years of a human being, from 0 to 6
years, are the most critical period when the brain grows to at least 60-70 percent of adult
size..[Ref: K to 12 Toolkit]
In Kindergarten, students learn the alphabet, numbers, shapes, and colors through games,
songs, and dances, in their Mother Tongue.
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Making the Curriculum Relevant to Learners (Contextualization and
Enhancement)
Examples, activities, songs, poems, stories, and illustrations are based on local
culture, history, and reality. This makes the lessons relevant to the learners and easy to
understand.
Students acquire in-depth knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes through

continuity and consistency across all levels and subjects.
Discussions on issues such as Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Climate Change

Adaptation, and Information & Communication Technology (ICT) are included in the
enhanced curriculum.
Building Proficiency through Language (Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual

Education)
Students are able to learn best through their first language, their Mother Tongue
(MT). Twelve (12) MT languages have been introduced for SY 2012-2013: Bahasa Sug,
Bikol, Cebuano, Chabacano, Hiligaynon, Iloko, Kapampangan, Maguindanaoan,
Meranao, Pangasinense, Tagalog, and Waray. Other local languages will be added in
succeeding school years.
Aside from the Mother Tongue, English and Filipino are taught as subjects
starting Grade 1, with a focus on oral fluency. From Grades 4 to 6, English and Filipino
are gradually introduced as languages of instruction. Both will become primary languages
of instruction in Junior High School (JHS) and Senior High School (SHS).
After Grade 1, every student can read in his or her Mother Tongue. Learning in
Mother Tongue also serves as the foundation for students to learn Filipino and English
easily.
Ensuring Integrated and Seamless Learning (Spiral Progression)
Subjects are taught from the simplest concepts to more complicated concepts
through grade levels in spiral progression. As early as elementary, students gain
knowledge in areas such as Biology, Geometry, Earth Science, Chemistry, and Algebra.
This ensures a mastery of knowledge and skills after each level.
For example, currently in High School, Biology is taught in 2nd Year, Chemistry
in 3rd Year, and Physics in 4th Year. In K to 12, these subjects are connected and
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integrated from Grades 7 to 10. This same method is used in other Learning Areas like
Math.
Gearing Up for the Future (Senior High School)
Senior High School is two years of specialized upper secondary education;

students may choose a specialization based on aptitude, interests, and school capacity.
The choice of career track will define the content of the subjects a student will take in
Grades 11 and 12. SHS subjects fall under either the Core Curriculum or specific Tracks.
Core Curriculum
There are seven Learning Areas under the Core Curriculum. These are
Languages, Literature, Communication, Mathematics, Philosophy, Natural Sciences, and
Social Sciences. Current content from some General Education subjects are embedded in
the SHS curriculum.
Tracks
Each student in Senior High School can choose among three tracks: Academic;
Technical-Vocational-Livelihood; and Sports and Arts. The Academic track includes
three strands: Business, Accountancy, Management (BAM); Humanities, Education,
Social Sciences (HESS); and Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM).
Students undergo immersion, which may include earn-while-you-learn

opportunities, to provide them relevant exposure and actual experience in their chosen
track.
TVET (TECHNICAL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION & TRAINING) NATIONAL

CERTIFICATE
After finishing Grade 10, a student can obtain Certificates of Competency (COC)
or a National Certificate Level I (NC I). After finishing a Technical-Vocational-
Livelihood track in Grade 12, a student may obtain a National Certificate Level II (NC
II), provided he/she passes the competency-based assessment of the Technical Education
and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
NC I and NC II improves employability of graduates in fields like Agriculture,

Electronics, and Trade.
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MODELING BEST PRACTICES FOR SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
In SY 2012-2013, there are 33 public high schools, public technical-vocational

high schools, and higher education institutions (HEIs) that have implemented Grade 11.
This is a Research and Design (R&D) program to simulate different aspects of Senior
High School in preparation for full nationwide implementation in SY 2016-2017.
Modeling programs offered by these schools are based on students’ interests, community
needs, and their respective capacities.
NURTURING THE HOLISTICALLY DEVELOPED FILIPINO (COLLEGE AND

LIVELIHOOD READINESS, 21ST CENTURY SKILLS)
After going through Kindergarten, the enhanced Elementary and Junior High
curriculum, and a specialized Senior High program, every K to 12 graduate will be ready
to go into different paths – may it be further education, employment, or entrepreneurship.
Every graduate will be equipped with:
 Information, media and technology skills,

 Learning and innovation skills,
 Effective communication skills, and
 Life and career skills.
IMPLEMENTATION AND TRANSITION MANAGEMENT

Program implementation in public schools is being done in phases starting SY
2012–2013. Grade 1 entrants in SY 2012–2013 are the first batch to fully undergo the
program, and current 1st year Junior High School students (or Grade 7) are the first to
undergo the enhanced secondary education program. To facilitate the transition from the
existing 10-year basic education to 12 years, DepEd is also implementing the SHS and
SHS Modeling.
TRANSITION FOR PRIVATE SCHOOLS
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Private schools craft their transition plans based on: (1) current/previous entry
ages for Grade 1 and final year of Kinder, (2) duration of program , and most
importantly, (3) content of curriculum offered.
ACHIEVEMENTS AND PLANS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
When will the K to 12 Program be implemented?
 Universal Kindergarten began in SY 2011–2012.

 The enhanced curriculum for Grade 1 and Grade 7 (1st Year Junior High
School) was rolled out this SY 2012–2013, and will be progressively introduced in the
other grade levels in succeeding school years.
 Grade 11 will be introduced in SY 2016–2017 and Grade 12 in SY 2017–
2018.
 The first batch of high school students to go through K to 12 will graduate
in March 2018.
Where will the additional two years be added?
The two years will be added after the four-year high school program. This will be
called Senior High School.
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Why are we implementing 12 years of basic education and not 11 years?
 A 12-year program is found to be the adequate period for learning under

basic education. It is also a standard for recognition of students and/or professionals
abroad (i.e., the Bologna Process for the European Union and the Washington
Accord for the United States).
 Other countries like Singapore have 11 years of compulsory education, but
have 12 to 14 years of pre-university education, depending on the track.
 The Philippines is the last country in Asia and one of only three countries
worldwide (the other two being Angola and Djibouti) with a 10-year pre-university
cycle.
How will K to 12 help in ensuring employment for our graduates?
 The K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum will be sufficient to prepare

students for work.
 The curriculum will enable students to acquire Certificates of Competency
(COCs) and National Certifications (NCs). This will be in accordance with TESDA
Training Regulations. This will allow graduates to have middle-level skills and will
offer them better opportunities to be gainfully employed or become entrepreneurs.
 There will be a school–industry partnership for technical–vocational
courses to allow students to gain work experience while studying and offer the
opportunity to be absorbed by the companies.
What would be the assurance that K to 12 graduates will be employed?
 DepEd has entered into an agreement with business organizations, local

and foreign chambers of commerce, and industries to ensure that graduates of K to 12
will be considered for employment.
 There will be a matching of competency requirements and standards so that
12-year basic education graduates will have the necessary skills needed to join the
workforce and to match the College Readiness Standards for further education and
future employment.
 Entrepreneurship will also be fostered in the enhanced curriculum,
ensuring graduates can venture into other opportunities beyond employment.
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How will the K to 12 Program help working students (college level)?
 DepEd is in collaboration with the Commission on Higher Education

(CHED) to provide more opportunities for working students to attend classes.
 DepEd is working with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)
to ensure that jobs will be available to K to 12 graduates and that consideration will be
given to working students.
How will the K to 12 Program help students intending to pursue higher education?
The K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum is in accordance with the College

Readiness Standards of CHED, which sets the skills and competencies required of K to
12 graduates who intend to pursue higher education.
TRANSITION MANAGEMENT AND FURTHER EDUCATION
"What will happen to colleges and universities during the initial nationwide
implementation of Senior High School in SY 2016–2017 and SY 2017–2018?
To manage the initial implementation of the K to 12 Program and mitigate the

expected multi-year low enrolment turnout for colleges, universities, and Technical-
Vocational Institutions (TVI) starting SY 2016-2017, DepEd shall engage in partnerships
with them to use their existing facilities and teaching staff. This ensures that during the
transition period, the reduction in enrollment in these colleges and universities may be
offset.
Where will Senior High School be implemented?
Existing public schools may implement Senior High School. DepEd will be in
partnerships with CHED, TESDA, and private schools to use their facilities, especially
for the transition years. In addition, new standalone Senior High Schools will be built.
How will DepEd recruit enough teachers for SY 2016-2017 onwards?
 With the continuous increase of the DepEd budget, more teachers are being
hired to fill all necessary gaps in schools.
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 To aid transition, hiring of (1) graduates of Science, Mathematics,
Statistics, Engineering, and other specialists in subjects with a shortage of qualified
Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) applicants, (2) graduates of Technical-
Vocational courses, (3) Higher Education Institution faculty, and (4) Practitioners will
be allowed.
What are the guidelines for graduates of Science, Mathematics, Statistics,

Engineering, and other specialists in subjects with a shortage of qualified Licensure
Examination for Teachers (LET) applicants?
 These graduates will be permitted to teach in their specialized subjects in

elementary and secondary education. They must pass the LET within five years after
their date of hiring to remain employed full-time.
 They will no longer be required to pass the LET if these graduates are
willing to teach on a part-time basis.
What are the guidelines for hired technical-vocational course graduates, faculty of
Higher Education Institutions, and practitioners?
 Graduates of technical-vocational courses must have necessary certification

issued by TESDA and undergo training to be administered by DepEd or a Higher
Education Institutions (HEI).
 Faculty of colleges and universities must be full-time professors and be
holders of a relevant Bachelor’s degree.
 Faculty of TVIs and HEIs will be given priority in hiring for the transition
period.
 DepEd and Private Education Institutions may also hire practitioners with
expertise in the specialized learning areas offered by the K to 12 Program as part-time
teachers.
How will K to 12 affect the college curriculum?
The college General Education Curriculum is being revised. It will have fewer
units with the removal of unnecessary remediation as K to 12 graduates adhere to the
College Readiness Standards. With K to 12, the college curriculum will comprise of a
year’s worth of General Education subjects and at least two years of major subjects.
Will K to 12 change TESDA Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET)

programs?
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No. TESDA will continue to offer TVET programs. Students may also be eligible
for NC I and NC II through Junior High School and Senior High School, respectively.
What is my role in supporting this program?
 Be informed. Education shapes our future as Filipinos, it is our duty to be

aware of reforms in basic education that will move our country forward.
 Spread awareness. Tell your family, friends, and networks about the K to12
Program and help them stay informed.
CURRICULUM
What will happen to the curriculum? What subjects will be added and removed?
 There is a continuum from Kindergarten to Grade 12, and to technical-

vocational and higher education.
 The current curriculum has been enhanced and has been given more focus
to allow mastery of learning.
 In Grades 11 and 12, core subjects like Math, Science, and Languages will
be strengthened. Specializations in students’ areas of interest will also be offered.
Will students choose specializations or will this be determined by assessment?
 Students will undergo several assessments to determine their interests and

strengths. These will include an aptitude test, a career assessment exam, and an
occupational interest inventory for high schools, and should help students decide on
their specialization.
 To help guide students in choosing career tracks they intend to pursue,
career advocacy activities will be regularly conducted, which will be supported by
career and employment guidance counselors.
"For Senior High School, what will happen if majority of our students want to
specialize in Agriculture and only one is interested to take Mathematics or
Business? How will this be accommodated?
 This is an extreme situation.
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 The areas of specialization will be offered according to the resources
available in a locality and the needs of students.
What will happen to special schools such as science high schools, high schools for the
arts, trade schools, etc.?
These schools will remain special schools with an enriched curriculum for Grades
7 to 12.
What will happen to multi-grade teaching?
Multi-grade teaching will continue, and will use the K to 12 curriculum.
"The Alternative Learning System (ALS) age requirement is only 16 years old for
the high school equivalency test. Will this change to 18? Students might want to turn
to ALS if they can save two years of formal school education costs.
The ALS is based on the existing 10-year basic education curriculum. When the
new 12-year curriculum will be in place, ALS will likewise be revised.
Will K to 12 enhance programs targeted to indigenous people, Muslim learners, and

people with special needs?
Yes, the K to 12 curriculum was designed to address diverse learner needs, and
may be adapted to fit specific learner groups.
KINDERGARTEN
Is Kindergarten a pre-requisite for entering Grade 1?
Yes. Republic Act No. 10157, or the Kindergarten Education Act, institutionalizes
Kindergarten as part of the basic education system and is a pre-requisite for admission to
Grade 1. Public schools will continue to admit children who have not taken Kindergarten
into Grade 1 until SY 2013-2014.
Is there an overlap between the daycare program of the LGUs and DepEd
Kindergarten?
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There is no overlap. Daycare centers of the LGUs take care of children aged 4 and
below, whereas the DepEd Kindergarten program is for five-year-old children.
Should schools now prepare permanent records for Kindergarten students?"
Yes. Although the assessment of readiness skills of students in Kindergarten is

not academically driven, a good measure of the child’s ability to cope with formal
schooling is needed for future learning interventions.
Who is in charge of Kindergarten teacher compensation? The LGU or DepEd?
 DepEd is the main agency that employs and pays Kindergarten teachers.
 There are LGUs that assist the Kindergarten program and provide
honoraria for Kindergarten teachers.
Will MTB-MLE include other languages in the future?
For SY 2012-2013, 12 Mother Tongue languages are being used for MTB-MLE.
More languages, such as Ivatan, will be added in succeeding years.
Which mother tongue will be used in multi-cultural areas?
 The common language in the area, or lingua franca, shall be used as the
medium of instruction.
 The principle of MTB-MLE is to use the language that learners are most
comfortable and familiar with.
TEACHERS AND DEPED NONTEACHING STAFF
Will teachers be burdened by additional teaching load due to the K to 12 Program?
There will be no additional workload due to the K to 12 Program. The Magna

Carta for Public School Teachers provides that teachers should only teach up to six hours
a day.
Will teacher salary increase as a result of the K to 12 Program?
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 The K to 12 Program will not result in a teacher salary increase because
there will be no additional teaching load or additional teaching hours.
 Salary increases for other reasons, such as the Salary Standardization Law,
inflation, promotion, and Performance-Based Bonuses (PBB), may apply.
How will teachers be prepared for the K to 12 Program?
 Teachers will be given sufficient in-service training on content

and pedagogy to implement this program. Current DepEd teachers shall be retrained to
meet the content and performance standards of the enhanced K to 12 curriculum. The
pre-service education training for aspiring teachers will also be modified to conform to
the requirements of the program. DepEd, in coordination with CHED, shall ensure that
the Teacher Education curriculum offered in Teacher Education Institutions will meet
the necessary quality standards for new teachers.
 Training of teachers will follow the phased-in introduction of the enhanced
curriculum.
How will DepEd prepare its non-teaching staff and officials for smooth transition
and implementation of the K to 12 Program?
 With the broader reform agenda, DepEd is ensuring the preparedness of the
organization by introducing organizational development interventions to continuously
improve its service delivery to the Filipino people.
 School Leadership and DepEd officials shall undergo workshops and
training to enhance skills on their role as academic, administrative, and community
leaders.
BUDGET
DepEd lacks resources to address its current input shortages. With K to 12 and its
added resource needs, how will this be addressed?
 All input shortages will be wiped out before the end of 2013. A 1:1 ratio
for student-to-textbook and student-to-seat will be achieved within SY 2012-2013.
Shortages in classrooms, teachers, and toilets will be fully addressed next year.
 The DepEd budget received a 23% increase in 2013 and budgetary
requirements for K to 12 will be included in succeeding appropriations for full
implementation.
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 We also have the support of local government units and private partners to
build the needed infrastructure.
How can different sectors and individual citizens collectively collaborate to improve
the basic education sector?
 Private partners can donate through our Adopt-A-School program, which

provides them a 150 percent tax rebate for their contribution.
 Individuals and institutions can take part in the TEN Moves! Campaign to
build 10,000 classrooms by donating P10 per day for ten months.
 LGUs can follow the front-loading scheme using their Special Education
Fund as collateral and the allocation as amortization.
 For teacher items, LGUs also help by hiring qualified teachers for our
public schools and paying honoraria for them.
 We have enough time to provide the additional classrooms, teachers, and
instructional materials since they will be needed beginning SY 2016–2017.
ENSURING SUSTAINABILITY OF THE PROGRAM
I like this program but I’m worried about additional cost to families. How will
government respond to this difficulty?
 Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education is offered for free in public

schools.
 There are additional indirect costs, but government agencies are
collaborating to provide programs that will enable everyone access to quality
education, especially to those with lesser means.
 Proposals such as the expansion of the Education Service Contracting
(ESC) scheme under the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private
Education (GASTPE) and other cost-sharing arrangements are being developed by
DepEd.
 K to 12 graduates should have higher earning potential as they will be more
competent and skilled.
 As a result of the K to 12 Program, particularly the more specialized
education in Senior High School, CHED is exploring the possibility of decreasing the
number of years of certain degree programs in college.
 K to 12 graduates can obtain national certification from TESDA, which
will enable them to have more employment opportunities.
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What about the dropout problem? Will this be addressed by the K to 12
curriculum?
 DepEd prefers the term “school leavers” rather than “dropout,” recognizing
that most students who discontinue schooling were pushed out of the system due to
factors beyond their and their parents’ control.
 Keeping students in school is a responsibility of the entire community. To
respond to this, DepEd and other government agencies are collaborating to make sure
that all children stay in school through programs like the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino
Program (4Ps) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
 The curriculum will be learner-centered, enriched, and responsive to local
needs. It will also allow students to choose electives and specializations that suit their
interest. This should partly address those who stop attending school because of the
perceived lack of relevance of the curriculum.
 DepEd will also continue to offer programs such as home schooling for
elementary students and the school leavers reduction program for high schools. These
programs address the learning needs of marginalized students and learners at risk of
leaving the school system.
How will the government ensure the effectiveness of the K to 12 Program?
 A Joint Oversight Committee from the Senate and the House of

Representatives shall be formed to oversee, monitor, and evaluate implementation.
 By the end of SY 2014-2015, DepEd will conduct a review of the
implementation of the K to 12 Program and submit a midterm report to Congress.
Won’t this be another avenue for corruption? How can you ensure that funds will
be released and used properly?
 DepEd fully supports the Aquino administration’s drive against corruption.

 We will regularly package and disseminate information on agency budgets,
bidding and procurement documents, and SALNs (Statements of Assets, Liabilities,
and Net Worth) of senior government officials, to ensure transparency and
accountability.
 It is also in our best interest to ensure that funds and resources are not lost
to corruption.
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K to 12: The Key to Quality Education?
Source: SEPO Policy Brief, SENATE ECONOMIC PLANNING OFFICE
The SEPO Policy Brief, a publication of the Senate Economic Planning Office,
provides analysis and discussion on important socioeconomic issues as inputs to the work
of Senators and Senate Officials.
This Policy Brief was principally prepared by Mr. Rocky Howard D. Yap under the
supervision of SEPO’s Directors and the overall guidance of its Director General.
Overview
The 1987 Philippine Constitution puts special premium on education and accords it
with the highest budgetary priority. Article XIV, Section 1, in particular, explicitly
provides: “The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality
education at all levels.” Article XIV, Section 5. (5) clearly mandates the State to “assign
the highest budgetary priority for education.” However, despite these constitutional
guarantees, current performance indicators showed a dismal picture of the quality of
education in the country. Participation rates have worsened, dropout rates remain high
and the Philippines continues to perform poorly in both national and international
assessment tests.
According to the Department of Education (DepEd), the congested curriculum is

partly to blame for this bleak situation. The DepEd claimed that forcing in 10 years a
curriculum that is learned by the rest of the world in 12 years has been quite a challenge
for both Filipino teachers and students. The Philippines is now the only country in Asia
that has a 10-year basic education cycle and one of the three remaining countries in the
world,1 together with Djibouti and Angola of Africa, that retains a 10-year pre-university
education system.
As a response to this issue, the DepEd is pushing for the passage of a law that will
implement the so-called K to 12 program, which will institutionalize pre-school and add
two more years of high school in the country’s basic education cycle. However, in light
of the tight fiscal situation and the mounting demands coming from all other sectors, the
increasing cost of living and the additional burden that this measure will entail
particularly for households, it is important to determine whether K to 12 is a viable and
critical program that needs to be pursued.
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The State of Philippine Education
Despite efforts by the government to make basic education accessible to all, lack of
access to quality education remains a major policy concern. The Philippines, a signatory
to the Millennium Declaration, has committed to achieve the goal of 100 percent net
enrollment rate by 2015. However, there is a low probability that this target will be met
given the current trend.
1
Refers to the 155 member countries of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Net elementary participation rates2 have even declined from 90.1 percent in 2002 to
88.1 percent in 2010. Fewer children of school age proceed to high school and an even
smaller number pursue college education.
Access to education is also unequal, with the poor having significantly lower
participation rates than the non-poor. In 2007, the non-poor had an elementary
participation rate of 91.8 percent, while for the poor, it was only 85.9 percent. The
disparity worsened in the secondary level when the participation rate of the poor dived to
51.4 percent as against the non-poor’s 76.5 percent. Looking at the gender dimension,
boys have lower participation rates than girls in all year levels.
Table 1. Net Participation Rates, by Level, by Gender and by Poverty Status,

2007 (in %)
Source: Manasan (2011)
Efficiency is likewise a problem as manifested in the still high, albeit declining

dropout or school leaver rates. Majority of school leavers also come from the poor and
male groups.
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Table 2. School Leavers as a Percentage of All Children in a Given Age Cohort,
2007 (in %)
Source: Manasan (2011)
2
Net elementary participation rate is defined as the portion of the number of enrollees 7-
12/6-11 years old to population 7-12/6-11 years old.
Results of the 2008 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey
(FLEMMS) showed that out-of-school youth with ages 6 to 15 years old do not attend
school mainly because: (1) they lack personal interest (35.0%), (2) they find the cost of
education high (18.7%), and (3) they consider themselves too young to go to school
(16.2%). It should be noted that as the age cohort gets older (16 to 24 years old), the need
to look for work and the high cost of education become the major factors for not going to
school.
Table 3. Reasons for Not Attending School
The poor quality of education is

also reflected in the country’s low
scores in national assessment tests.
Although mean percentage scores
(MPS)3 in the National
Achievement Test (NAT)4 have
generally improved in
3 MPS indicates the

percentage or the ratio between the
number of correctly answered items
and the total number of test
questions.
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4 The NAT is an annual examination administered to public and private school
students throughout the country to determine their achievement level, strengths and
weaknesses in key subject areas.
The elementary level, they have remained low, with students answering only 68
percent of the test items correctly in SY 2009-2010. Secondary level students performed
worse as they only answered 46 percent of the test items correctly during the same
period. An MPS of 75 percent is considered the passing mark.
In international tests such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science

Study (TIMMS), the Philippines is among the worst participating countries. Out of 25
participating countries, the Philippines ranked 23rd in TIMMS’ Math and Science in
2003. In 2008 TIMMS, even the science high schools that are recognized to be the best
and the brightest in the country fared badly in Advanced Mathematics.
The K to 12 Program
The Philippine educational system is patterned after the American model, which
includes seven years of elementary school. In an attempt to control the costs due to a
rapid increase in school enrollment during that time, the Education Act of 1940 did away
with Grade 7. It
In 2004, in another attempt to extend the basic education cycle, the High School
Bridge Program, a one-year remedial program for underperforming first-year high school
students, was proposed.5 However, it met strong opposition from students who will have
to stay longer in school and their parents who will have to shoulder the extra expenses of
another school year.
5
The High School Bridge Program is intended for students who do not meet the
cut-off score in the High School Readiness Test administered by the DepEd. It focuses on
three subjects: English, Mathematics and Science.
Bowing to public pressure, the DepEd offered it then as an optional program.6
K to 12 program is the latest effort of the government to elevate the educational

system to the global 12-year standard. K to 12 means one year of kindergarten and 12
years of elementary and secondary education. It was one of President Noynoy Aquino’s
campaign promises and as such, was included in the priority list of bills of the
Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).
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Why is K to 12 needed?
1. To decongest the curriculum. According to the DepEd, while the K to 12 is not the
solution to all the ills of the Philippine educational system, it will address one of its main
weaknesses—the congested curriculum.
The DepEd explained that the students are hard-pressed to learn in 10 years a
curriculum that is actually designed for 12 years in other countries. Hence, Filipino
students are not able to achieve comprehension and mastery, particularly of core subjects.
Perhaps the most damning proof of this is the result of the 2008 FLEMMS, which
revealed that 19 percent of elementary graduates are not functionally literate (Action for
Economic Reforms and E-NET, 2008). Functional literacy means a person can read,
write, compute and comprehend.
The DepEd claimed that with K to 12, students will not have to rush through the
lessons anymore. It will also do away with unnecessary topics in the curriculum so that
students will develop competencies and acquire life skills that will make them productive
members of the society.
2. To prepare the students for higher education. From the DepEd’s assessment,
secondary graduates of the current system are not adequately prepared for college. They
pointed out that this is why most of the courses, the so-called General Education subjects,
taken by first year college students are actually remedial as they should have already been
mastered in high school. With K to 12, students will be better prepared as introductory
courses that are currently taught at the tertiary level will be included in the high school
curriculum.
3. To prepare the students for the labor market. According to the DepEd, with the 10-year
basic education cycle, students usually graduate from high school below 18 years old, too
young to legally join the labor force or put
up a business that will entail them to enter into contracts. In addition, because they have
not mastered the necessary competencies, graduates of the current system often lack
skills and hence, are vulnerable to exploitative labor practices. The DepEd claimed that K
to 12 will empower them to confidently join the labor market as by the time they graduate
they are already of legal age and equipped with sufficient skills.
4. To comply with the global standards. At present, graduates who wish to work abroad
are at a disadvantage because they are not automatically recognized as professionals
while students who apply for post-graduate studies often have to enrol in or take remedial
courses to meet the entrance requirements of the foreign country. For instance, the
20 | P a g e
Washington Accord signed in 1989 prescribes 12 years of basic education as a
requirement for the recognition of engineering professionals. Likewise, the Bologna
Accord of 1999 requires 12 years of education for university admission and practice of
profession in European countries.
Conclusion
Inarguably, the system of basic education in the country is in dire need of

resuscitation. The main question though is whether increasing the number of years of
schooling as proposed by the K to 12 program could lead to improvements in quality or
just exacerbate the present situation.
The proposal to make kindergarten mandatory and institutionalize it as part of the

basic education cycle is not as contentious as the additional two years in high school as
there is a universal acceptance of the importance of pre-school in improving the quality
and efficiency of education. Various studies have indicated that quality Early Childhood
Care and Development (ECCD) is associated with better cognitive and social skills
development. Students who have undergone ECCD tend to stay in school longer and
learn more. In fact, informal pre-school programs that operate with inadequate resources
and facilities, and are saddled with unfavorable class sizes still manage to produce
positive results in students (EFA GMR, 2005). A formal and institutionalized pre-school
program with trained pre-school teachers is thus expected to produce more gains. In
contrast, researches have mixed findings on lengthening the basic education cycle.
Critics have raised a real and valid concern that adding two more years of senior high
would not only strain the government’s resources but also contribute additional burden to
households. With the increasing cost of living, and the budget, particularly of the poor,
already stretched to the limit, K to 12 is a rather ambitious and expensive program,
especially when it does not
guarantee favorable results. On the other hand, there is also merit in the argument that the
current curriculum needs decongesting and that the country needs to catch up with the
rest of the world in terms of the length of basic education cycle. Nearly all countries have
complied with the 12-year global standard and the Philippines is one of the last holdouts.
If less-developed and poorer countries can commit to providing a longer basic education
cycle, why can’t the Philippines?
What is clear is that lengthening the basic education cycle alone could be useless on
its own without corresponding improvements on other educational inputs. According to
the 2005 EFA GMR, aside from the presence of ECCD programs, enabling inputs are
21 | P a g e
critical determinants of quality. Teachers who are considered to be the most important
enabling inputs need to have better pre-service and regular in-service teacher trainings.
This can also mean increasing the qualifications for teachers and instituting a merit-based
system along with increasing salaries to attract the best and the brightest. Likewise, other
inputs like classrooms, textbooks, libraries and other school infrastructure need to be
sufficiently provided. A better system of testing that focuses on skills and competencies
to properly gauge outcomes is also essential.
Ultimately, the government’s ability to secure resources to implement the K to 12

program and at the same time address the unresolved shortages in educational inputs will
determine the country’s quality of education in the future. As wisely stated in the
Philippine EFA plan, “Good education is expensive but lack of education costs many
times more.”
*******
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Articles from Philippine Journal of Education
BY DR. FLORANGEL ROSARIO BRAID

Manila Bulletin
February 8, 2011
MANILA, Philippines – The debate continues on whether the government should put its
limited resources on the Enhanced K-12 Basic Education Program which will add two
years to our present 10-year basic education. The enhanced K-12 program as many now
know, will have kindergarten, 6 years of elementary education, four years of junior high
school (Grades 7 to 10), and two years of senior high school.
According to the 2010 Department of Education Briefing Report, the last two
years (Grades 11 and 12) will provide time for the student to consolidate acquired
academic skills and competencies. Universal kindergarten will be offered starting 2011
after which DepEd will begin unclogging its basic education curriculum by 2012. It plans
to complete the enhanced 12-year curriculum and start with incoming Grade 1 students of
SY 2012-13. The rationale for the two years is to decongest and enhance basic education
curricula, provide quality learning, and be at par with other countries in Asia which
provide more years for basic education. It is also based on studies which show that
improvements in the quality of education will increase the GDP growth by as much as 2
percent and will have a positive impact on society.
Today, we have a 12-year curriculum that is being delivered in 10 years. The negative
consequences, as studies show, that high school graduates are shown to lack basic
competencies and maturity. They are yet legally unable to enter into contracts and are
found emotionally immature for entrepreneurship employment.
*********
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Wish for K+12
From Philippine Journal of Education

By Abraham I. Felipe
I was among the many relieved by Isagani Cruz’s explanation that the K+12 idea
was not the defining educational reform of the present administration. I am uncertain who
is to blame for creating that impression, whether it was a poorly informed media or
overzealous K+12 advocates, or both. In my case, I know the impression was firmly
implanted when I was first invited and then subsequently disqualified to participate in a
FUSE-sponsored curriculum seminar-workshop because of my stand against K+12.
Now that Isagani Cruz has clarified the nature of K+12 vis-a-vis the total reform
package, DepEd stands to get more support. He said that K+12 is only one of ten (10)
programs in the package which include programs for the kindergarten, the madaris, a
high school level voc-tech, accelerated reading, mathematics and science, assistance to
private schools, the mother-tongue approach to instruction, quality textbook production,
and a role for local government in the public school system. The varied advocates of the
other nine programs may now come forward and be counted. For example, I supported an
experimental integration of madaris in the 70’s as head of FAPE; it did not prosper; I am
interested in the madaris component of the package, hoping it would prosper this time.
There will be issues of resources for each program, because the DepEd budget was not
proposed to implement the total reform but to implement K+12.
I have one final suggestion. In place of “outcomes” as in “outcomes-based

approaches” try the term “future” instead. “Outcomes” suggest “antecedents” which may
not be that important when planning. “Future” is what is used instead in planning which
is what you do when designing a curriculum. Futures may be of several types. In terms of
avoidability, they may be inevitable or not inevitable; in terms of desirability, desirable or
undesirable. The paradigm below illustrates these types.
Inevitability
Desirability
Inevitable Not Inevitable
Desirable
Undesirable
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The most adaptive response to a future that is inevitable and desirable (e.g.,
growth in technology, in contact among peoples, in modalities of communications) is to
avail of these maximally.
The most adaptive response to a future that is both inevitable and undesirable
(e.g., climate change, unabated population growth) is to prepare to mitigate its negative
effects.
The most adaptive response to a future that is not inevitable and desirable (e.g.,
development in such sectors as investments and finance, employment, food production,
energy, security, transport, etc.) is to prepare the needed policies and technical manpower
to support them.
The most adaptive response to a future that is not inevitable but undesirable (e.g.,
peace process problems) is to remove their antecedents.
These adaptive modes may be the subject of curriculum designs.
In closing, let me assure all that I never intended to assail the various programs in
the total educational reform. In the K+12, I did not assail the K part. I even supported it,
perhaps at least as much as the K+12 advocates had done. The “12” I split into a “10” and
a “2”, and only said of the “10” that it needs to be cleared of junk. It is only the “2” that I
questioned. Is it necessary? Is it wise? Is it timely? Is it just?
I wish DepEd well on its reform package except for the “12” which I hope will
not prosper.
*********
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K To 12 Changes Philippine Educational System
By Erica Delos Santos

September 13, 2012
Figure 1: “The development of K to 12 Program

has been made possible by the collaborative
efforts of members of the Steering Committee
which is composed of DepED, CHED, TESDA,
and other stakeholders.”
The government’s K-12 program is a much-

needed change for the country’s education system.
Through this program, people may expect better-
trained citizens who could be competitive with the
knowledge and skills of people trained abroad.
Before the Implementation of the K-12 program began, the Philippines is one of
the very few countries remaining that provide only ten years of basic education, six years
in elementary and four years secondary. This short period makes it difficult for Filipinos
to be competitive with countries like Japan or Korea, that have at least 12 years of basic
education under their belt. In most cases, the extra years spent in basic education should
enable students to tackle subjects like mathematics and science in more details, instead of
the rushed manner used in the old education system.
People can also expect that the new K-12 system will produce graduates who are
more prepared for college education. The program is expected to provide a clear view of
which career they would take. This may lead to less drop-outs, and more chances of
success in graduating from whatever course they choose.
The K-12 system is not without its critics. Some people say that it is not the
number of years that should be increased, but the quality of instruction that the students
receive. In a way, adding a few years to basic education can still provide the quality that
students need.
26 | P a g e
Now on its first year of
implementation, the K-12 program is
not without challenges, but it is an
endeavor worth pursuing if we truly
intend to improve the Philippine
education system. By investing more
time and resources in our education,
we can expect our graduates to
become competitive in the global
business arena, and bring more
success that would contribute
towards building our nation.
Figure 2: Comparative data on duration of basic and secondary education in Asia
Figure 3: Schematic implementation plan of K to 12
SOURCE: http://www.informatics.edu.ph/iconnect/k-12-changes-philippine-educational-
system/
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The Road To World-Class Philippine Education
BREAKTHROUGH By Elfren S. Cruz

The Philippine Star
July 4, 2013 - 12:00am
The Philippines is the ONLY country in the whole of Southeast Asia with only
ten years of basic education and pre-university education. The other countries with their
corresponding duration of basic education and pre-university education are Cambodia (12
years of primary and secondary and 1 year pre-university or a total of 13 years); Laos (11
years primary and secondary and 1 year of pre-university or a total of 13 years);
Myanmar (11 years of primary and secondary and 1 year of pre-university or a total of 12
years); Timor-Leste (12 years of primary and secondary); Indonesia (12 years of primary
and secondary and 1 year of pre-university or a total of 13 years).
The two advanced economies in SE Asia are Singapore (11 years of primary and
secondary with 2-3 years of pre-university or a total of 13-14 years) and Malaysia (11
years of primary and secondary and 2 years of pre-university or a total of 13 years).
Whenever I hear people say that extending the number of years of basic education
in our schools from 10 to 12 years is premature, I find this a tragic viewpoint. It means
we have Filipinos who believe that we cannot even be capable of giving our young
people the same duration of education as even countries poorer than ours such as
Myanmar, Timor, Laos and Cambodia.
The principal victims of this obviously inadequate duration are primarily the
children of the poor and the middle class. The so-called “exclusive” schools like La Salle
and Xavier have been historically offering 12 years starting with Prep to Grade 7 in
elementary and 4 years in high school. The very rich send their children to foreign
schools in the USA or Britain where 12 years is the basic duration.
The idea of extending the duration of basic education is not new. As far back as
July 28, 1949, a UNESCO Educational Commission to the Philippines released a report
that included a conclusion that 6 years of elementary school and 4 years in the secondary
is not adequate. The group proposed eventually this should be increased to 12 years.
After almost 64 years, the 2-year extension, as proposed, finally became law. On
May 15, 2013 President Benigno Aquino III signed into law Republic Act No. 10533
entitled “An Act Enhancing the Philippine Basic Education System by Strengthening the
28 | P a g e
Curriculum and Increasing the Number of Years for Basic Education, Appropriating
Funds Therefore and for Other Purposes.”
The improvement of the education program, through K to 12 will benefit not only
the student but also their families. The additional 2 years has allowed the curriculum to
be revised and decongested. In the old curriculum too much knowledge, skills and values
were expected to be learned by students within a limited period of time.
Under the new program, graduates will also be better prepared for higher studies.
We have students who are entering college at the age of 15 to 16 years. In most countries,
the normal age for entering college is 18 years.
Under the new program, high school graduates will be better equipped to work
and will, therefore, be more employable. Under the present situation, two years of college
or even a college degree is required even for semi-skilled jobs.
According to Secretary Luistro the implementation of the K to 12 has been

carefully calibrated. When we talk of the additional 2 years, Grade 11 will be
implemented in school year 2016 and grade 12 will begin in school year 2017. The
change in curriculum was started two years ago and is being done grade by grade.
Secretary Luistro explains: “The first graduates [of the K to 12 program] would
actually be March of 2018. But if you look at the new curriculum.... those who will be
graduating [grade 12] in 2018 entered Grade 7 with the new curriculum. They never went
through the new curriculum from kindergarten to Grade 6. That’s what I mean by you
needed a minimum of 7 years. But the real reform, the first fruits of those, we will see in
the grade 1 students who started using the new curriculum 2 years ago. They will be the
first graduates of the full new K to 12 curriculum.”
Together with the K to 12 program, the DepEd is also ensuring that by 2016 there
will be no more shortages in the five learning inputs — classrooms, teachers, learning
materials, chairs and water and sanitation facilities. The main reason is that there is now
sufficient financial support. In the past, around 10,000 additional teachers a year were
being hired. This year we needed 61,500 teachers and the DepEd has already hired
around 90% of this target.
The K to 12 program, the revision of the curriculum, addressing the shortages and
the retraining of teachers are all geared towards a world-class educational system that
will graduate globally competitive Filipinos. Secretary Luistro says that his vision is a
public school system whose quality will be as good as our best private schools.
29 | P a g e
The program will take seven to twelve years before we see its full fruits. For the
sake of a vision of a country where every Filipino is given the means to live a life of
human dignity by being given the competencies to take advantage of all the opportunities
available, I feel that it is only right that we have already embarked on this bold and sorely
needed education reform program. It is inevitable success and fruits will prove that the
Philippines can be, and will be, a world-class nation.
********
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Angara: Teach Spanish In High School Under K+12
Written by Angie M. Rosales

Tribune
June 16, 2012
While students, teachers and parents are trying to cope up with the
implementation of the 13-year basic education K+12 program, more challenges are
coming their way as one senator has proposed the revival of Spanish as a language
subject in high school.
Sen. Edgardo Angara yesterday said he will file a bill mandating the Department
of Education (DepEd) to include the teaching of Spanish language in the secondary
school curriculum, under the K+12 program, to make the next generation more
competitive particularly in the business processing outsourcing (BPO) and tourism
industries.
Angara said Latin American countries are now looking at Asia as their next business
destination due the collapse of various economies in Europe and Central America.
“The next generation should be taught Spanish to prepare them (for) the
continuing upsurge of Latin American tourists and investors (in) Asia,” the senator told a
press conference after attending the 10th Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day at the
National Historical Commission of the Philippines in Manila.
Angara was the author of the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day Act (Republic
Act 9187) in the Senate while his son, Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara
sponsored the counterpart bill in the lower house. It was enacted in 2003.
“Latin Americans are now going to Asia as tourists and investors. They are
spending a lot in Asian countries like Cambodia, Indonesia, etc. So, we should have
Spanish-speaking personnel in the tourism industry,” he said.
The K+12 program that kicked off this year introduced music, arts, physical
education and health subject for those in grades 1, 2 and 3 and reduced the teaching time
in science, mathematics, English, technology and livelihood education, Filipino and other
subjects.
“The BPO industry is the largest growing industry in the country and (in time) it will
replace the remittances of overseas Filipino workers (as the engine of fiscal growth) due
31 | P a g e
to the demand in Latin America. They are now looking for Spanish speakers around the
world to business process their companies. If we have Spanish-speaking call center
agents, we may also outdo other countries in the BPO industry,” he explained.
“Imagine, if you speak Spanish, Mandarin and English, the three largest languages
spoken around the world, you will have a great advantage (over) other countries (in)
business processing and investments,” he concluded.
**************
32 | P a g e
Deped Using Seven More Dialects Under K To 12
By Helen Flores
The Philippine Star
July 13, 2013
MANILA, Philippines - Seven more dialects have been used as medium of instruction
from Kindergarten up to Grade 3 as part of the mother tongue-based education under the
K to 12 program starting this school year.
These dialects are Ybanag for pupils in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, and Isabela;
Ivatan for the Batanes Group; Sambal in Zambales; Aklanon in Aklan; Kinaray-a in
Capiz; Yakan in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Surigaonon for
Surigao City and the Surigao provinces.
Education Secretary Armin Luistro said: “The use of the same language spoken at
home, in the early grades, helps improve the pupils’ language and cognitive development
in addition to strengthening their socio-cultural awareness.”
The 12 other local dialects used in other Tongue Based-Multilingual Education

(MTB-MLE) are Tagalog, Kapampangan, Pangasinense, Iloko, Bikol, Cebuano,
Hiligaynon, Waray, Tausug, Maguindanaoan, Maranao and Chabacano.
The MTB-MLE is implemented in two modules: as a learning/subject area and as

medium of instruction.
The Department of Education said local and internationals studies have shown
that using the mother tongue inside the classroom during the learners’ early years of
schooling produce better and faster learners who can easily adapt to learn a second
(Filipino) and third language (English).
The mother tongue as a subject focuses on the development of reading and

speaking from Grades 1 to 3.
As a medium of instruction the mother tongue is used in all learning areas from
Kindergarten to Grade 3 except in the teaching of Filipino and English.
Filipino is introduced in the first semester of Grade 1 for oral fluency (speaking).
33 | P a g e
For reading and writing, it will be taught beginning in the second semester of
Grade 1.
The four other macro skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing in Filipino
will continuously be developed from Grades 2 to 6.
****
34 | P a g e
DepEd To Phase In 12 Years Of Basic Education
High school graduates can be productively employed even without a college

degree once two years are added to basic education, Education Secretary Armin Luistro
said today.
The education chief recently announced his plan to implement President Noynoy
Aquino’s agenda of increasing the basic education cycle from the current 10 years to 12
years, a plan that he referred to as the “enhanced K+12 basic education program.”
He explained that “K” refers to “Kindergarten” while the number “12″ refers to
the sum of seven years of grade school and five years of high school.
He said that these reforms will be implemented gradually over a number of years
and may go beyond the term of the current or even next administration.
Luistro said that the Department of Education (DepEd) is currently working on a

concept paper that will outline the proposed revisions to the public school curriculum and
how these will be implemented and funded. He added that DepEd will present the
proposal to the public on October 5, 2010, which is World Teachers’ Day, so that all
education stakeholders can give their feedback.
Luistro said that these reforms will aim to ensure that future high school graduates
are ready to be productively employed even without completing college.
“The current thinking and the current culture in the Philippines is that if you don’t
finish with a college degree, there is something missing in your life. What should basic
education be? To me, what is basic is that [high school graduates] should be able to live a
meaningful life, they should be able to be prepared to start a family, and thirdly they
should be able to be productively employed,” explained Luistro.
He added that the DepEd will explore how public schools can better develop
Filipino’ students skills and talents in the arts, sports, agriculture, fisheries, and in
technical or vocational fields, among others.
“Perhaps our current curriculum is too academic in orientation,” said Luistro.

“What are the needs of industry? You need to match that with the gifts, resources, and
interests of young people.”
Re-examine reform priorities
35 | P a g e
But some educators believe that DepEd should re-examine its reform priorities.
“Our immediate focus should be just improving basic education. The dropout rate
is very, very high and the quality of education is very, very low,” says Milwida Guevara,
chief executive officer of Synergeia, an NGO that focuses on improving the quality of
public school education through greater local government support.
Guevara said that DepEd should focus instead on improving the quality of
education in kindergarten, pre-school, and in grades one to four of elementary school.
She added that adding two years to the education cycle “will address the problem of the
lack of quality of students in the high school, and also in the university, but it does not
address the problem in earlier years of schooling.”
She said that as many as 30 percent of students who enter grade one drop out
before grade six, and that these figures are higher in some areas of Mindanao. “It’s too
late to have an intervention after grade six,” she said.
DepEd’s proposal also drew mixed reactions from visitors to the GMANews.TV
Facebook Fan Page.
“Add two more years for high school? Para sa apat na years na high school nga
lang, kulang na ang budget ng mga magulang. Dadagdagan mo pa ng dalawa? And
besides, from the start,hindi naman ‘yung years ang problema, kundi ung kakulangan ng
libro and materials para sa mga students, pati na rin ung kakulangan sa teachers,” said
Facebook user Kevin Taboada.
(Parents can hardly afford to pay for four years of high school, and yet they want
to add two more years? Besides, the number of years is not the problem. It’s the lack of
books and educational materials for students, and the lack of teachers.)
Other Facebook users believed the proposal would help make Filipino graduates
more globally competitive.
Dubai-based OFW Hannah Zipporah Tayo said, “Natapos ko ang 10 years high
school standard sa ‘Pinas, and I had to pursue further studies in Dubai. None of the
universities and colleges accepted me, kasi ‘di nila recognize ang 10 years
standard. Siguro nga kailangan ng upgrade ang curriculum!”
(I finished ten years of high school in the Philippines, and I had to pursue further
studies in Dubai. None of the universities and colleges accepted me because they did not
recognize my ten years of education. I think the curriculum should be upgraded!)
Dennis Montas Lorejo, a Filipino who teaches in the United States, wrote, “To
conform with the global standard, we must move to a 12-year basic education. Also,
36 | P a g e
strengthen the teachers knowledge and skills so that they may bring better instructions to
their students. Upgrade the school facilities, impose the use of technology in schools,
raise teachers salary, and a lot more. But we must start with something, right?”
April Joy Cruz said, “Quality is better than quantity. Tingin ko, kahit dagdagan
ng two years, pero ang situation ng mga public school students na 60 to 80 students per
class, walang upuan at libro, para lang nagsasayang ng oras sa eskwelahan kung wala rin
naman matututunan.”
(We can add two years, but for as long as classrooms still have to be shared by 60
to 80 students, and for as long as these students have no books or chairs to use, our
students will be wasting their time learning nothing.) - HS, GMANews.TV
Source: http://mlephil.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/2282
************
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K To 12: Teaching In Local Language a Hit among Kids
By Rima Jessamine Granali

Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 4th, 2013
PADDLING TO SCHOOL Pupils take a makeshift boat going to Panghulo Elementary

School in flood-plagued Malabon City on the first day of classes. The short ride costs
them P5 each.
With a lapel microphone, Marilou Lucas acted more like a variety show host than
a Grade 1 teacher as she led her pupils in playing musical native games like “Chimpoy
Champoy” (similar to “Jack en Poy”) or singing the popular child’s refrain in Filipino,
“Leron, Leron Sinta.”
The classroom was turned into a setting for singing, dancing, playing games, exploring
the arts and telling stories in the mother tongue with the implementation of the K-to-12
(Kindergarten to Grade 12) curriculum last year, Lucas said, describing how she handled
her Grade 1 class at Krus Na Ligas Elementary School in Quezon City.
A Grade 1 teacher for 16 years, Lucas observed that pupils were more enthusiastic
using Tagalog and the learner-centered approach.
“The children were so engrossed that they didn’t want to go home because they were
enjoying the activities,” she said. “They were excited to attend classes. For example, if
you tell them that we’ll have painting tomorrow, they’ll tell the teacher, let’s have
painting today.”
“The pilot year of K to 12 was not perfect,” she conceded. “We will try to address
those imperfections. As we go on, we will try to make it perfect.”
Interviews conducted by the Inquirer with teachers and parents in general showed
children were enthusiastic in embracing the use of Filipino, at least in Metro Manila.
Aside from establishing a “universal kindergarten” and adding Grades 11 and 12

(senior high school) to basic education, the newly enacted Enhanced Basic Education Act
of 2013, or the K to 12 Act, mandates the use of mother tongue-based multilingual
education.
The program embracing the global 12-year education cycle was rolled out in
Grades 1 and 7 in public schools across the country last year, leaving Angola and
38 | P a g e
Djibouti as the only holdouts of the 10-year cycle the Philippines had followed since the
Commonwealth era.
Last month, President Aquino signed into law the legislation covering the
program.
Based on a Department of Education (DepED) order, the mother tongue (MT), or

vernacular in the region, should be taught as a subject from Grades 1 to 3 and used as a
medium of instruction from kindergarten to the first three years of grade school.
In Grade 1, subjects in the native language include Math, Araling Panlipunan

(AP), Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health (Mapeh) and Edukasyon sa
Pagpapakatao (Values Education).
Bahasa Sug, Bikol, Cebuano, Chabacano, Hiligaynon, Iloko, Kapampangan,

Maguindanaoan, Maranao, Pangasinense, Tagalog and Waray-Waray were the 12
languages introduced last year.
Citing local and international studies, the DepEd has said that “the use of the learner’s
mother tongue or the language used at home is the most effective medium of learning.”
Teaching new skills in an unfamiliar language is a “double burden” for children,

because they are “learning both the language and the content all at the same time,” said
Mercedes Arzadon, a professor at the University of the Philippines’ College of
Education.
Language familiarity
The 2002 Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) followed the bilingual system, or
the use of English and Filipino, before the DepEd last year initiated the program to
employ local languages as medium of instruction from Grades 1 to 3.
“A new kid in school would not have any problem if any of the two languages is
what he uses at home,” Arzadon said in an e-mail interview. “Maybe they know a little
English or Filipino, but it is not the language they are most familiar with.
Around 75 percent of Filipino children speak their native languages, like

Kankanaey or Bikol, she said.
39 | P a g e
Children need to feel secure and comfortable in school because they are faced
with new learning tasks, like raising their hands to be allowed to speak, counting and
participating in class discussion, she said.
“If you want children to learn such skills and be able to be functional immediately
you use the language they know well,” said Arzadon, an advocate of the mother tongue
system of instruction.
“What happened then was that everything became a language subject, including
Math and Science,” she said of the old system. “No wonder it became rote learning, the
teacher asked the class to mimic her and memorize stuff without understanding it at all,”
she explained.
Nenita Reyes, another teacher at Krus na Ligas, explained that with the new
system, children learned through activities.
“In the old curriculum, children just sat and listened. But now, they are the ones
discussing the subject,” Reyes said.
First graders were not hesitant to grab the class microphone and even raced for the
opportunity to speak, she recalled. At Krus na Ligas Elementary School, teachers used
lapel microphones to be heard by their nearly 60 students. Each class had a microphone.
Teachers were equipped with lapel microphones.
Natividad Nacino, the principal, said using the native language as the medium of
instruction “erases the notion that being good at English makes you brilliant.”
“If you speak English well, you must do better using your own language,” she
said.
Easing pressure
Using the language that children speak at home lessens the “pressure” of being in
school, said Joey Ann Tenorio, a Grade 1 teacher at Hen. Pio del Pilar Elementary
School.
Because her pupils at the public school in Makati City have been accustomed to
speaking in class, they remain confident even when they are required to recite in English,
Tenorio said.
40 | P a g e
“Their oral skills have been developed during the first and second grading period
using the mother tongue,” she said.
When the English subject was introduced in the third grading period, they were
still able to express their thoughts and were not afraid of making mistakes, Tenorio said.
But some of the public school teachers wondered why the Filipino subject and
mother tongue had to be taught as separate subjects when Tagalog, spoken in Metro
Manila, is the base of Filipino, the national language.
The school’s principal, Imelda Caravaca-Ferrer, said the teachers told her that the
materials in the two subjects were the same.
Beth Madlangbayan, a Grade 1 teacher, said Filipino was more on the parts of
speech while the mother tongue focused on reading traditional stories. “Topics in MT and
Filipino are basically the same,” she said.
“In my opinion, MT is more applicable in regions with a different mother tongue

like Waray-Waray or Bisaya,” she said, suggesting that teaching MT and Filipino as one
subject could lengthen the time for discussions.
Madlangbayan said that in the old curriculum, first graders were expected to read
and write in English before they started Grade 2. But in K to 12, the children only need to
be fluent in the local language.
The time allotment for subjects in the elementary level had been reduced to 30 to
50 minutes from the 40 to 90 minutes in the old curriculum. The recommended time in
class for Grade 1 is four hours in the first semester and four hours and 30 minutes in the
second semester.
At Krus na Ligas, teacher Lucas said the allotted time was not enough to allow all
her 58 pupils to recite or discuss their artworks or assignments so they often extended the
class or continued the next day.
Communication skills
“Each student should be given a chance to recite,” she said, pointing out that
Grade 1 in the K to 12 program was aimed at improving oral communication skills.
Reading and writing are not yet a priority at this grade level.
41 | P a g e
Reyes said there were only few writing exercises. Most of the time, they worked
in groups, sang Filipino songs and played games. “It’s like kindergarten but more
advanced,” she added.
Regina Palma, a mother, said the pacing seemed a bit slow for her son, Javen
Yestin, who was one of the top pupils in Grade 1 in Krus na Ligas.
Lucas responded to Palma in a group interview with the Inquirer that the
program’s philosophy was “slowly but surely.”
“Pupils are able to master the lessons because you build a strong foundation and
add to their previous knowledge,” she said.
But teacher Nenita Reyes said: “If you feel your students are intelligent, then give
them additional activities. We should learn to go outside the box. You should not limit
yourself to what is prescribed by K to 12.”
At the Makati school, the teachers incorporated lessons from the old curriculum to
advance the discussion, especially for pupils in the first section, or advance class, who
could easily master the topics.
Principal Ferrer said: “In speaking, the skills are being repeated, it has no variety.
Students have prior knowledge. The teachers deviated and started complementing using
the usual way of teaching because it’s more organized.”
Madlangbayan said there were some topics that were no longer taught in Grade 1
which she deemed important, such as the Philippine national symbols, natural resources
of the country, traits of a Filipino and rights of a child.
As early as first grade, she said these should be taught “to instill a sense of pride
and nationalism.”
The K to 12 Araling Panlipunan is centered on self, family and community. It is

“good, but it needs to be developed,” she added.
Pilot year a struggle
The teachers were optimistic about the new curriculum but admitted that its first
year was a struggle because the instructional materials came late and they were only
given a weeklong mass training.
42 | P a g e
But before the start of classes, they were given a Teacher’s Guide and Learner’s Guide,
which contained topics and suggested activities for every lesson. The guides had portions
in another language so they had to be translated.
“We were not really prepared. We didn’t know what to do. We struggled,”
Tenorio said.
Because the materials came late, the teachers had a hard time translating
mathematical terms into Tagalog.
Madlangbayan recalled there were times when Grade 1 teachers would debate on
the proper translations.
Pupils also found Math difficult because they were more familiar with the English
numbers, she said. They often mispronounced the numbers but by counting regularly in
class, they managed to memorize them and solve mathematical problems, she added.
On the other hand, Lucas said music and art were the favorite subjects of most
pupils because they got introduced to Philippine games, like “sungka” and “chimpoy
champoy,” and old songs, like “Ugoy sa Duyan.”
But music was challenging for teachers who were not used to teaching rhythm,
tempo and dynamics.
“Music was discussed briefly during the seminar. If you’re an ordinary person,
you wouldn’t immediately know the high and low notes. I even drew a ladder to guide
them,” Lucas said.
Tales from treasure chest
For the subject mother tongue, the DepEd suggested a list of stories to be read in
class.
Most stories were “pulled out from a treasure chest” and not readily available in
bookstores, like “Si Gong, Galuglong,” so the teachers had to improvise and create their
own books, Lucas said. The constant need to produce materials “sharpened my
imagination,” she said.
The teachers either drew the characters or downloaded pictures from the Internet, she
said.
Teacher Joey Ann Tenorio said almost every night last year, she stayed up until
11 p.m. to make visual aids for her class the next day.
43 | P a g e
With the Grade 1 materials now in their hands and with their experiences last
year, the teachers hoped this school year would be better.
Arzadon and other educators asked the Senate in an open letter in January to
extend the use of the mother tongue as medium of instruction to Grade 6 and as a subject
beyond Grade 3.
“I believe that there should not be a law prescribing teachers how to teach.
Teachers should be given the freedom to introduce changes when a child is ready,” she
said in her e-mail to the Inquirer.
“It should not be seen as a mere bridge to master Filipino or English. If I fell in
love with my language, say Ibanag, and I want to continue using it and maybe grow up to
be a radio commentator in Ibanag or a novelist in Ibanag, then I should be given the
chance to use Ibanag as long as I want to.”
*****************
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HEd Lays Out New GE Subjects For Colleges, Universities With K+12 Program
By Dona Z. Pazzibugan
April 1st, 2013
CHEd chairperson Patricia Licuanan. PHOTO FROM

CHED.GOV.PH
MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has approved the

new set of mandatory general education (GE) subjects that will be taught to college
students who have finished the added two years of high school under the K to 12
(Kindergarten to Grade 12) program.
The new GE curriculum will be taken up for only one year (or 18 units every
semester) instead of two years as currently practiced since most of the old GE subjects
will already be taken up in senior high school (Grades 11 to 12).
The shortened GE curriculum has prompted all collegiate disciplines, which take
four to five years to finish, to revise the content and length of their respective curriculum
before the K to 12 graduates enter college in 2018.
“Yes (the new GE curriculum) is approved already. We’re in the process of

consultations. In general, the reception is quite positive,” CHEd chairperson Patricia
Licuanan said in a recent interview.
She confirmed that the engineering technical panel has already decided to shorten
the course from five years to four years because of the K to 12 program.
The technical panels of experts formed by CHED for every collegiate discipline
will decide whether to shorten the course, or to keep the length but add more major
subjects.
45 | P a g e
“The decision is not across the board. It will be discipline-based,” Licuanan said.
“Engineering has already said instead of five it will be taken in four (years). I
personally feel there are some courses that could be taken in three years, but that’s up to
the technical committees and they’re working on it now. But they have that leeway” to
decide, the CHEd chairperson went on.
She said the technical panels would make their decisions by the middle of the year
since “2014 is when we hope to implement a number of things, so that means by this year
we have those decisions already made.”
At present, college students are required to take up (GE) subjects such as

communication, math, science, history and physical education during their first two years
before they can take up subjects for their respective disciplines.
Licuanan said GE teachers would have to be trained in teaching the GE subjects

in the new curriculum “in a broader way.”
Sources involved in the drafting said the new GE curriculum consisted of 12 subjects,
including the mandatory subject on the life and works of national hero Jose Rizal.
The eight GE subjects are Understanding the Self, Contemporary World,

Purposive Communication, Art Appreciation, Ethics, Readings in Philippine History,
Mathematics in the Modern World, Science and Technology (ST) and Society.
The students are allowed to choose three elective subjects.
The shortened GE curriculum and the implementation of senior high school in

2016 and 2017 have raised the scenario where colleges and GE teachers will have no one
in teach during those two years.
The K to 12 law crafted by Congress calls for a two-year transition period where
college teachers who teach GE subjects can teach in Grade 11 and 12.
Licuanan said they have not finalized any arrangement with higher education
institutions on the fate of displaced GE teachers.
“There’s no solution yet. Obviously we accept it as a problem. But K to 12 was

necessary and therefore there will be some sacrifices entailed. What we’re trying to do
now is to make sure those sacrifices aren’t too big,” she said.
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DepEd already approved the curriculum for Grades 11 and 12 last December.
Senior high school will be implemented nationwide in 2016. But the 30 high
schools that piloted Grade 11 last year will see their senior high school students graduate
in March 2014.
The subjects taken up by these students should be credited when they enter
college, Licuanan said.
“My only concern is they can’t count the same courses twice,” she said.
***********
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Deped: K To 12 To Help Ease Unemployment
By Helen Flores
The Philippine Star
June 10, 2013
MANILA, Philippines - High school graduates under the K to 12 program can find
employment or start their own livelihood because they will be trained in vocational and
technical skills, according to the Department of Education (DepEd).
Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the additional two years in high school
are intended to further hone the skills and talents of students for their chosen career path
– in arts, sports, technical vocational and entrepreneurship – or tertiary education to help
ease unemployment in the country.
“It is expected to give graduates better choices in the field of work or further
education,” Luistro said.
Under the K to 12 program, which was signed into law by President Aquino last
May 15, students may choose an educational track based on aptitude, interests and school
capacity which will define the content of the subjects they will take in senior high school
(Grades 11 and 12).
The academic track includes business, accountancy, and management (BAM);

humanities, education, social sciences (HESS); and science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM).
Luistro also urged public and private colleges and universities to put up
“specialized” senior high school programs.
He said public and private colleges and universities that plan to offer programs for
senior high school should base their programs on the kind of jobs needed in their
respective areas.
“For instance in Batangas, there is high demand for ship repair so the schools can
offer welding (course for senior high school students),” Luistro said in an earlier
interview.
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Senior high school will be implemented nationwide beginning school year 2016-
2017.
Last school year, the DepEd pilot tested the senior high school in 30 schools
nationwide. The first batch of Grade 12 students under the K-to-12 program will graduate
in 2018.
The K to 12 law also makes Kindergarten mandatory among five year olds. A
DepEd study showed that children who attended preschool significantly do better in high
school than children who did not.
************
49 | P a g e
‘K + 12’ still struggling

Dona Z. Pazzibugan
June 3, 2013
SOURCES: DEPED AND CHED /

COMPILED BY: SCHATZI
QUODALA, INQUIRER
RESEARCH
The birth pains that marked the
launching last year of K + 12—a bold
program meant to align the Philippines
with the global 12-year basic
education cycle—are not going away
soon, along with the usual problems
encountered at the beginning of each
school year.
A quarter of the Philippines’
nearly 100 million population are
students—some 21 million of them
enrolled in more than 46,000 public
schools and the rest in private
facilities, according to statistics from
the Department of Education (DepEd)
for the school year 2011-12. (Figures
from the last school year remained
unavailable.)
Classes in public schools begin Monday—in some impoverished areas under the
trees and still in others under tents, particularly in the Compostela Valley, where
buildings were flattened in the devastating onslaught in December by Typhoon “Pablo”
and remained unbuilt.
On May 15, President Aquino signed into law the program mandating Filipino
pupils to attend kindergarten, six years of elementary school education, four years of
junior high school and two years of senior high school. The signing officially ended the
country’s 10-year basic education cycle, which now exists only in Angola and Djibouti.
New learning materials under the revised curriculum for Grade 2 and Grade 8
(formerly second year high school) will again be delivered late, as in last year when the K
50 | P a g e
+ 12 program was rolled out. As in the previous year, teachers did not have enough time
to prepare. They only had a five-day mass training just before the start of classes.
Still, this second year of the program’s implementation should be better as the
DepEd gains experience, said Armin Luistro, the education secretary and former
president of De La Salle University, in a recent interview.
“It’s not generally understood and quite hard to explain that the K to 12 is a
curriculum reform that involves changes in textbooks, changes in classrooms, retooling
of teachers, etc.,” said Luistro. “Even if there is no K to 12, we have to address the
backlog in classrooms, toilets, teachers, etc.”
The DepEd started revising the basic education curriculum the past school year in
Grades 1 and 7.
“In any undertaking the first year of implementation is faced with a lot of glitches,
challenges,” said Education Assistant Secretary Jesus Mateo when asked about the rushed
training of teachers and the long delays in the delivery of the learning materials.
For the new curriculum for Grades 2 and 8 this year, the learning materials would
again be delivered late, although Mateo promised these would reach the teachers and
students earlier—“by the end of June or early July.”
“We made (the curriculum change) gradual, so we will improve as we move along
the full implementation. This year will not be as problematic as last year,” he said.
A major change this year was the decision to tap the DepEd’s own experts in the
field and in the main office to develop and train the teachers for the new curriculum.
The department previously sought the help of mostly university educators as
subject area convenors to develop the teachers’ and learners’ materials.
Training
This time, the DepEd’s Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE) took the lead for
the Grade 2 curriculum development, while the Bureau of Secondary Education (BSE)
handled the Grade 8 curriculum, working with DepEd teacher experts.
“This is a lot better than last year. We learned. The training was better-planned.
There was even a chief trainers’ training before the trainers’ training. We learned from
the experience last time,” said BEE education program specialist Galileo Go.
The trainers attended a seven-day program in April. The national training for the
Grade 8 trainers was held in Baguio City on April 14-20. Three sets of training were held
for the Grade 2 trainers: in Quezon City for Luzon, Cebu City for Visayas-Mindanao, and
in Iloilo City for a special training session for the province.
The mass teachers’ training started after the May 13 elections.
Leversia Rivera, an English teacher at Manila Science High School for the last 14
years, said the training had improved but it was still not enough.
51 | P a g e
She took part in the training for Grade 8 teachers from Manila, Caloocan and
Pasay City public schools on May 20-24 at Philippine Normal University. She said the
teachers who underwent the mass training last year appreciated the exercise this time.
Incomplete materials
However, the teachers were handed only a curriculum guide consisting of a few
pages, and teaching modules contained lessons only for the first quarter, Rivera said. “It’s
hard to see the continuity when you do not know where you’re supposed to go by the end
of the school year,” she said.
“We can’t blame the trainers since these were the same materials given to them.
They assured us the lessons up to the fourth quarter period have been completed. Maybe
it’s in the production,” she went on.
The teachers nevertheless pooled their resources to get soft copies of all the
materials available and reproduced these at their own cost.
Go, who was the lead trainer for the revised Grade 2 English subject, said the
teacher’s guides were ready by December last year so the bureau had more time to plan
and prepare the training modules.
Unlike in the pilot year when the subject area convenors developed all the Grade
1 learning materials, including those for the various Mother Tongue subjects, the Grade 2
learner’s materials were devolved to the DepEd regional offices.
Using the learner’s guide developed by the BEE in Filipino, the DepEd regional
offices tailor-fitted the materials per subject according to their language and cultural
context.
K + 12 reverted to a multilingual education with the use of the mother tongue (the
language a child uses at home) as a medium of instruction from kinder to Grade 3 and as
a separate subject from Grade 1 to Grade 3.
The DepEd is employing 12 major local languages—Tagalog, Kapampangan,
Pangasinense, Iloko, Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray, Tausug, Maguindanaoan,
Maranao and Chabacano—introduced as a subject in Grades 1 to 3 in select schools.
The teacher’s guides, however, are all written in English.
Not enough training

Five days of training is admittedly not enough, Go said, especially since teachers
in the lower grade levels usually handle most if not all of the subjects in their grade level.
The same teachers who underwent the Grade 1 curriculum training also turned up
for the Grade 2 curriculum training.
“Grade 1 and 2 teachers can teach all the subjects,” said Go, who had taught all
grade school subjects as a teacher and acting principal in Mogpong, Marinduque, before
he joined the DepEd in 2004.
52 | P a g e
BSE education program specialist Marivic Tolitol said the Grade 8 curriculum
was completed earlier than last year.
A physical education teacher before she joined the DepEd in 1998, Tolitol said
she used to simply follow the lesson outline of the textbook.
“Before, I did not know there was a framework. I did not know why I was
teaching these topics. I thought the textbook was it. But in fact you have to adjust the
textbook according to the scope and topics you are teaching,” she said.
She said the topics in the new curriculum were arranged to build on skills that had
been acquired.
“If you simply follow the textbook, you do not understand the prerequisites,” she
said. “There is a very big change (in the new curriculum). Now the focus is to teach for
understanding, not for facts or low level information.”
The Grade 8 learner’s guide, or learner’s material, per subject area is a thick pile
of loose sheets bound together, Tolitol said. The learner’s material for Filipino has about
500 pages.
Real-life applications
With a revised curriculum, the existing textbooks in schools are no longer the
primary source of materials but have instead become supplements to the new learning
concepts developed by the DepEd.
“The textbooks are references but the exercises are already included in the
materials. There are built-in readings,” Tolitol explained.
The emphasis on real-life applications of learning also opens the door to tapping
resources outside the classroom.
“We have very rich resources, like people, parents and the people in the
community. The Internet can be a resource. If you depend on the textbook you’re not
even sure if it was printed correctly,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong. Textbooks are
important. All we’re saying is we should not be limited to the textbook.”
The Grade 2 learner’s materials, on the other hand, are in book form.
Go said the department had taken note of the activities in the existing textbooks
that the teachers could still use in the new curriculum.
“If the learners’ materials are not yet there, they make their own on Manila
paper,” he said. “If I will teach again, it’s better now because we have a lot of materials.
Before, when I was in the mountains, I had no textbook. We were using Manila paper. I
did everything.”
Spiral approach
Rivera said she appreciated the curriculum framework, including the “spiral
approach” in tackling lessons, but believed the new curriculum would work only under
ideal school conditions.
53 | P a g e
“In itself, the spiral approach is good and will ensure understanding so students
can apply knowledge and competencies and be lifelong learners. Given favorable
conditions, it will really work. But there are the realities. In some schools there are 80
students in a class,” she said.
As a specialized school, Manila Science High School has the ideal class size of 35
students.
Rivera said teachers would cope even if the implementation was in a trial-and-
error stage.
“Teachers are inherently creative and resourceful. That’s how it is when you’re a
teacher. We’ll do our part. We hope DepEd central [office] would do its job and ensure
the basic inputs,” she said.
Mateo said the result of the K-to-12 reform would be known when pupils who
entered kindergarten in school year 2011-12 had been through the new curriculum.
“The impact will be seen after six years because for those who will enter kinder,
the assessment is when they finish (elementary school),” he said.
Planning senior high

The DepEd, meanwhile, has its eye on the fast-approaching 2016, when the added
senior high school kicks in nationwide.
Luistro outlined general plans to give high school graduates viable options other
than having to get a college degree to land a good job.
High school education is currently a “one-size-fits-all” program that assumes all
graduates are meant for college, the department says. High school graduates who cannot
afford college cannot land good jobs.
To help plan for the major infrastructure needs, Luistro said the department
tapped the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to map out the capacity of private high
schools as well as colleges and universities to absorb senior high students.
The government cannot build all the classrooms and hire all the teachers needed
for senior high school, what with the need for classrooms and teachers going up each year
in public schools.
Luistro said he was hoping for a 60:40 ratio between public schools and private
schools in accommodating the more than 2 million senior high school students expected
in 2016 and 2017.
Subsidizing students in private schools is less costly than if these students are in
public schools.
“In principle, the government saves more if there are more students absorbed by
private schools. But the question is, not all can be absorbed by private schools,” Luistro
said.
54 | P a g e
2-year college vacuum
He said that extending subsidy to private schools would not only address the
government’s logistical problem but also the concern of private colleges and universities,
which would not have freshman enrollees in 2016 and 2017.
More importantly, the ADB mapping will also look into the senior high school
programs that private schools plan to offer, whether in the regular academic track, the
technical-vocational programs, entrepreneurial or the sports and arts courses.
Luistro wants senior high school programs to be tailor-fit for the locality in order
to afford graduates who will not pursue college a good chance at employment or
entrepreneurship.
“What we want in senior high school is specialized. If we will offer the same kind
of programs, then all our graduates will compete for the same kind of jobs,” he said.
Senior high schools have to localize their technical-vocational or entrepreneurial
programs, Luistro said.
“It will be easy if the province has a development plan, like Batangas has piers so
it needs welders. The problem is if the province has no development plan, we have no
basis to plan,” he said.
“We do not want a situation where since there is a fad for Tesda (Technical
Education and Skills Development Authority) courses in beauty care, cosmetology,
manicure and pedicure, you’ll have so many such graduates in a barangay. What will you
all do? That’s the problem,” he said.
Luistro has suggested to Tesda the development of courses for scuba diving and
surfing and others related to local tourism.
Dive spots in the provinces are a draw for tourists who stay for several weeks, he
said, but the country has no diving academy.
23 tech-voc courses
During a recent visit to Siargao, Luistro said he saw three youths aged between 13
and 14 years who were not attending school because they were serving as surfing guides.
Luistro suggested a surfing academy in Siargao where the young guides could
gain professional certification while attending school.
“There are core competencies, but the training should result in skills that can land
them jobs,” he said.
Tesda said it had developed curriculum for technical-vocational courses,
including automotive servicing, mechanical drafting, computer hardware servicing,
horticulture, shielded metal arc welding, consumer electronics servicing, aqua culture,
dressmaking/tailoring, masonry, care-giving, household services, plumbing, agricrop
production, fish capture, handicraft, carpentry, electrical installation and maintenance,
bread and pastry production, tile setting, animal production, fish processing and beauty
care.
55 | P a g e
For the specialized technical-vocational courses in senior high school, the DepEd
plans to tap practitioners as part-time teachers.
Republic Act No. 10533, or the Enhanced Basic Education law, more popularly
referred to as the K to 12 law, allows schools to hire nonlicensed teachers as part-time
teachers in high school.
“We can hire a bemedalled surfing coach who can teach surfing, or a Mangyan
elder who has not finished college or high school but recognized as one who teaches
values. The law allows this Mangyan elder to teach values education in the Mangyan
communities,” Luistro said.
Luistro said the DepEd hoped to finish the mapping by November. “We have time
to prepare,” he said.
****************
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K to 12 ProgramGoal: Jobs for High School Graduates
Fernando del Mundo

June 10, 2013
Malacañang’s keeper of the purse once likened the Philippine education system to
a frog in a kettle put to a boil.
“The frog will not know it is dying until it is too late,” Florencio “Butch” Abad
told me in 2007, two years after he left the Arroyo administration in a mass desertion of
Cabinet secretaries.
Abad, the current budget secretary who headed the Department of Education
(DepEd) under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for a year, then described the
situation as “dismal.”
The question is, Is the frog out of the kettle? Is the DepEd, midway through the
administration of President Aquino, finally moving to lift the quality of Philippine
education, seeing to it that every child is able to read and find a job after high school, just
like in First World countries?
“Yes,” said Alice Alafriz Pañares, a consultant in the department’s K to 12
program—kindergarten, six years of elementary, four years of junior high school and two
years of senior high school. “So many things have happened.”
Last month, Aquino signed the law officially adopting the program that seeks to
align the Philippines’ basic education program with the 12-year international norm.
For the first time since the Commonwealth era, the country is dropping the 10-
year cycle whose lone holdouts are Angola and Djibouti.
“All those years, we had been waiting for this,” said Pañares, who served under
seven education secretaries before she retired recently and became a private sector
representative in the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
In addition to K to 12, the DepEd also is adopting the mother tongue of a
particular locality as the medium of instruction from Grades 1 to 3, eschewing the
traditional bilingual approach using English and Filipino in a nation with a lingua franca
for each of the 17 regions. For starters, 12 languages are on tab.
“This is very significant,” Pañares said.
“For the first time, we have a President who did not renege on his word, on his
promise to improve our education system. And he will not even be there when all of these
initiatives bear fruit,” she said. “My feeling is the ball game has changed, the rules have
changed. It’s very positive.”
She acknowledged problems in implementation, “like in everything else when
you start from zero.”
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“There are jagged lines of ups and downs,” Pañares said.
Education Secretary Armin Luistro said last month that in addition to the K-to-12
birth pangs, there were the perennial shortages.
Critics said classroom shortfall ran to 32,000, teachers 61,000 and textbooks 60
million as the new school year opened last week for more than 25 million students.
Improvisation
The new program was rolled out last year in Grades 1 and 7 (the first year of
junior high) in mostly catch-as-catch-can fashion, according to interviews conducted by
the Inquirer with teachers reported in a series of four articles last week. Improvisation
was the name of the game.
Antonio Calipjo Go, the academic supervisor of Marian School of Quezon City,
laments that the implementation of the program presaged an “impending disaster” unless
stopgap measures are adopted immediately.
This self-styled “sick books” crusader zeroed in on the subject close to his heart—
textbooks, declaring that they had been “at the very heart of the rot that’s infecting
Philippine education and making it sick.”
Little has been done, he said in letters to the Inquirer and concerned authorities, to
publish textbooks conforming to the new curriculum.
Old titles remain in use, some of them he had earlier critiqued. Go cited “English
for You and Me,” which he had pilloried in June 2009, calling it “English for Carabaos or
Flip-glish.”
“It is high time the DepEd issues new textbook calls to replace all the textbooks
presently being used in all the major subjects, select only the best from among the
submitted entries, and proceed to do what is mandated by the Constitution and moral
law—to teach what is right,” he said in an essay accompanying a letter to the Inquirer on
Aug. 31, 2012.
Error-filled
He said he reviewed the “Learning Package for Grade 7 English, First and Second
Semesters.” The 172-page teaching aid for teachers in what is now first year junior high
in the new 12-year curriculum was riddled with 658 solecisms—or an average of 3.8
errors per page, said Go, who has mounted a crusade against books “lost in translation,”
even using P1 million out of his own pocket to expose in paid newspaper advertisement
the anomalous materials.
Examples:
– An embedded clause is a clause that is fixed within a larger clause or sentence
which is called the matrix clause. The embedded clause is usually found in the beginning
58 | P a g e
or at the end of sentences. Markers introduce embedded clauses, but there are instances
when a marker does not precede an embedded clause. Such is the case with gerunds.
– Witness a moonlight memory of a lifetime. This is not your usual walk in the
bay.
– Carlo declared his imperishable love to Carlita.
– A humorous proverb: “I was formerly a gentleman without a care at all but
when I got married, my body shrank and became small.”
When I interviewed Butch Abad in the dimly lit dining room of his Quezon City
home after he had quit the Arroyo administration over charges the President stole the
2004 elections, he rued embarrassments of the education system.
Half of the Philippine student population then was not even in school; a national
test on reading given to about a million Grade 6 students in 2003 showed that 99.4
percent of them were unprepared to enter high school and that their level of proficiency
was only at Grade 4; teachers who did not wish to be accused of incompetence gave
“wholesale” passing marks.
The late Education Secretary Raul Roco launched in 2002, after years of study, a
new basic curriculum that reduced the 10 subjects taught in public schools to five—
English, science, mathematics, social studies and Filipino. Art, music, history, physical
education and culture were crammed under social studies.
The objective was to foster “functional literacy,” to make every child a reader,
able to understand and apply in daily life the result of reading and numeracy.
Achievement rates
Efforts were made to improve proficiency in science, math and English after tests
revealed the nation’s young were lagging behind in standards, even in its own backyard
in Southeast Asia.
But the latest basic education statistics released by DepEd showed that the
achievement rate for school year 2011-12 indicated little improvement over the past five
years—66.79 percent for mathematics, 66.47 percent in science, and 66.11 percent for
English.
Incidentally, the cohort survival rate at 73.46 percent in the past year was down
from 75.26 percent five years before, in spite of the vaunted P20-billion conditional cash
transfer (CCT) program to keep children in schools. The CCT fund this year is around
P40 billion.
Completion rate—the percentage of pupils who are able to finish their studies—
was down at 70.96 percent from 73.06 percent over the five-year period.
“The country does not really fully appreciate the value of education,” said Jose V.
Abueva, former president of the University of the Philippines who now runs Kalayaan
College, a hole-in-the-wall in Quezon City’s teeming Cubao district.
59 | P a g e
“We always want to assume that as the Constitution says the state shall guarantee
the quality of education. But in terms of allocation of resources, we are far below what
other countries invest in education, especially Singapore,” the 85-year-old Abueva said.
“If we don’t invest enough and we pay our teachers and professors inadequate
salaries, the result would be the kind of inferior education that we have and our value
system,” he said in an interview in his tight office, his desk filled with mountains of
papers.
Topsy-turvy values
According to the World Bank, the Philippines spends $138 (P6,650) per student
per year compared to $853 (P41,110) in Thailand, $1,800 (P86,751) in Singapore and
$5,000 (P240,975) in Japan.
“Our media are always glamorizing and publicizing people in entertainment,
cinema, artista … . So in the people’s value system, they are the most important people.
Educators, scientists and researchers are nowhere to be found in the newspapers,
compared to celebrities,” Abueva said.
“The people’s value system goes over into politics—celebrity, popularity,
personality, name recall, ‘winnability.’ They don’t talk about politics, ideas and
institutional changes. People with quality, like Jun Magsaysay, wala (nothing), compared
to Chiz Escudero and Heart Evangelista,” he said of the May 13 senatorial elections.
“And media project this almost every day. That’s why our value system is topsy-
turvy.”
An ardent advocate of the parliamentary system, Abueva said the country needed
“transforming leaders” that would rebuild the nation’s institutions—a prescription for
inclusive economic growth and political maturity in the best-selling book “Why Nations
Fail” by Robinson and Acemoglu.
Newspapers trivialize proposals to amend the Constitution, he said, calling the
exercise “Cha-cha, a dance.”
The immediate goal in all the current education initiatives, in the view of
consultant Pañares, is simply to provide the youth with the wherewithal to get past high
school so they could get decent jobs.
“A lot of our high school graduates—70 percent—do not go to college,” Pañares
said. Under the new K to 12 program, they would at least be assured of a vocational
certificate that would enable them to land jobs, she said. “Now they have a chance… .
They will not be a burden.”
60 | P a g e
DepEd: Teachers' Know-How on K-12 Program Adequate
Philippines News Agency

June 9, 2013
TAGBILARAN CITY -- The

Department of Education (DepEd)
assured the public the teachers are
equipped and their know-how is
sufficient in advancing the K-12 scheme
that stretches the usual 10-year period to
another 2 years in formal education.
The planning division of the
DepEd division office issued this in response to talks public school teachers
implementing the K-12 are ill-equipped, especially in teaching the mother- tongue
language.
DepEd said the teachers have been capacitated in trainings during the summer
season despite the short time, including training in the use of the mother tongue as
medium of instruction from grades one to three.
****************
61 | P a g e
K-12 For All, Use Of Mother Tongue Now Law
By Delon Porcalla
The Philippine Star
May 16, 2013
President Aquino chats with

students from the Center for
Excellence Elementary School at
the signing of Republic Act
10533, or the Enhanced Basic
Education Act of 2013, at
Malacañang yesterday. Also in
photo is Speaker Feliciano
Belmonte Jr. WILLY PEREZ
MANILA, Philippines - President

Aquino yesterday signed the K to
12 Basic Education Program law, which adds two years to basic education and makes
enrollment of children in kindergarten compulsory.
Aquino signed Republic Act 10533 or the “Enhanced Basic Education Act of
2013” barely three weeks before the opening of classes in public and private schools
nationwide on June 3.
Under the K to 12 program, children are required to enroll in kindergarten before

they can begin six years of primary education.
Two years will be added to the four-year high school curriculum.
The law also mandates the use of the mother tongue as the medium of instruction
from kindergarten to third grade before English is introduced.
The additional years will serve as a specialization period for senior high school
students, whether in vocational skills, music, arts or sports. They will be prepared in
middle-level skills development, entrepreneurship, employment and tertiary education.
62 | P a g e
Senior high school graduates will then have an option to take either short-term
technical vocational courses, wherein employment is immediate, or pursue college
education.
The implementation of the law aims to provide sufficient time for students to
master “concept and skills, develop lifelong learners and prepare graduates for tertiary
education, middle-level skills development, employment and entrepreneurship.”
Aquino said the new education program will strengthen the basic education
requirements of students which, in turn, will bring them closer to the fulfillment of their
dreams.
“We now know that our traditional 10-year basic education cycle is deficient,”
Aquino said during a ceremony at Malacañang where he signed the law.
“Given that our young people are at a disadvantage in terms of basic education,
how can we expect them to compete for employment and other higher pursuits?”
The President also said the government remains focused on providing quality
education for Filipino students, as his administration continues to introduce reforms and
programs designed to improve the delivery of knowledge and learning in schools.
The government said it was building tens of thousands of new classrooms, hiring
nearly 18,000 teachers, and printing tens of millions of textbooks this year to implement
the new education program nationwide.
Aquino said the education department budget has been raised to P232 billion this
year, up 44 percent from 2010 levels, largely to pay for the extra services.
Aquino, halfway through a six-year term, also reiterated that one of the main
goals of his presidency is to create a more inclusive society in the impoverished country
of 100 million people.
Twenty-nine percent of the workforce is jobless or underemployed, according to

the latest government data.
Nearly 10 million Filipinos have been forced to seek better-paying jobs abroad.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. as well as Senators Ralph Recto, Franklin Drilon
and Edgardo Angara, and Representatives Neptali Gonzales II of Mandaluyong City,
63 | P a g e
Sandy Ocampo of Manila, and Juan Edgardo Angara of Aurora province witnessed the
signing.
Recto lauds signing of K-12 law
Recto, one of the principal authors of the Senate version of the K to 12 bill,
lauded the signing of the measure into law.
He said a longer learning period would improve the quality of Philippine

education and would keep the country at par with other nations.
“Our graduates would no longer be discriminated against by their length of

campus stay and would be measured by their talent, proficiency and world-class skills,”
Recto added.
Recto also noted that the signing comes in the wake of a successful midterm
election and “this refocuses our poll-distracted lenses to give a 20-20 vision to our
children’s future and to the much-needed reforms in education.”
He said the signing into law of the K-12 bill provides an impetus for the incoming
members of the new Senate to take up reforms in education as part of their legislative
agenda.
Use of mother tongue
Recto included into the measure the use of the mother tongue as the medium of
instruction from kindergarten until the third year of primary school – another major
reform under the K-12 program.
Recto cited latest global studies which confirmed that learning through the use of
the mother tongue results in “quicker comprehension.”
He also noted that in the country, the average Filipino is multilingual and can
understand several local dialects aside from English.
“Scientific studies and global trends point to multilingual-based education using

the mother tongue as becoming the standard teaching method for basic literacy all over
the world,” Recto said.
The language of instruction will then gradually shift to English from grades four
to six in primary school.
64 | P a g e
Subjects will be taught in English throughout high school, as the country
considers English proficiency by its workforce as a competitive advantage in
employment.
New tech-voc curriculum under K-12
Meanwhile, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority has

completed the new curriculum for technical vocational education and training courses for
students under the K-12 program, TESDA director general Joel Villanueva said
yesterday.
“Teachers can already use the new curriculum in the coming school year,”
Villanueva said.
The TESDA chief said curriculum guides, learning modules, and teachers’ guides
for 23 technical vocational courses have been developed for incoming Grades 7 and 8
students.
Review of these materials for Grades 9 to 10 is ongoing.
Technical vocational courses that will be offered are automotive servicing,

mechanical drafting, computer hardware servicing, horticulture, shielded metal arc
welding, consumer electronics servicing, aquaculture, dressmaking and tailoring, and
masonry.
Care-giving, household services, plumbing, agricultural crop production, fish

capture, handicraft, carpentry, RAC servicing (DomRac), electrical installation and
maintenance, bread and pastry production, tile setting, animal production, food (fish)
processing, and beauty care (nail care services) will also be offered. – With Christina
Mendez, Mayen Jaymalin, Helen Flores,
*********
65 | P a g e

The K To 12 Basic Education Program ARTICLES

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K to 12 Articles 2013

The K to 12 Basic Education Program

WHAT IS THE K TO 12 PROGRAM?

The K to 12 Program covers Kindergarten and 12 years

Strengthening Early Childhood Education (Universal Kindergarten)

Research shows that children who underwent Kindergarten have better

Students acquire in-depth knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes through

Discussions on issues such as Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Climate Change

Building Proficiency through Language (Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual

Ensuring Integrated and Seamless Learning (Spiral Progression)

Gearing Up for the Future (Senior High School)

Senior High School is two years of specialized upper secondary education;

Students undergo immersion, which may include earn-while-you-learn

TVET (TECHNICAL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION & TRAINING) NATIONAL

NC I and NC II improves employability of graduates in fields like Agriculture,

In SY 2012-2013, there are 33 public high schools, public technical-vocational

NURTURING THE HOLISTICALLY DEVELOPED FILIPINO (COLLEGE AND

Every graduate will be equipped with:

 Information, media and technology skills,

IMPLEMENTATION AND TRANSITION MANAGEMENT

TRANSITION FOR PRIVATE SCHOOLS

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PLANS

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

When will the K to 12 Program be implemented?

 Universal Kindergarten began in SY 2011–2012.

Where will the additional two years be added?

Why are we implementing 12 years of basic education and not 11 years?

 A 12-year program is found to be the adequate period for learning under

How will K to 12 help in ensuring employment for our graduates?

 The K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum will be sufficient to prepare

What would be the assurance that K to 12 graduates will be employed?

 DepEd has entered into an agreement with business organizations, local

How will the K to 12 Program help working students (college level)?

 DepEd is in collaboration with the Commission on Higher Education

The K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum is in accordance with the College

TRANSITION MANAGEMENT AND FURTHER EDUCATION

To manage the initial implementation of the K to 12 Program and mitigate the

Where will Senior High School be implemented?

How will DepEd recruit enough teachers for SY 2016-2017 onwards?

What are the guidelines for graduates of Science, Mathematics, Statistics,

 These graduates will be permitted to teach in their specialized subjects in

 Graduates of technical-vocational courses must have necessary certification

Will K to 12 change TESDA Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET)

What is my role in supporting this program?

 Be informed. Education shapes our future as Filipinos, it is our duty to be

 There is a continuum from Kindergarten to Grade 12, and to technical-

Will students choose specializations or will this be determined by assessment?

 Students will undergo several assessments to determine their interests and

 This is an extreme situation.

What will happen to multi-grade teaching?

Multi-grade teaching will continue, and will use the K to 12 curriculum.

Will K to 12 enhance programs targeted to indigenous people, Muslim learners, and

Is Kindergarten a pre-requisite for entering Grade 1?

Should schools now prepare permanent records for Kindergarten students?"

Yes. Although the assessment of readiness skills of students in Kindergarten is

Who is in charge of Kindergarten teacher compensation? The LGU or DepEd?

Will MTB-MLE include other languages in the future?

Which mother tongue will be used in multi-cultural areas?

TEACHERS AND DEPED NONTEACHING STAFF

Will teachers be burdened by additional teaching load due to the K to 12 Program?

There will be no additional workload due to the K to 12 Program. The Magna

Will teacher salary increase as a result of the K to 12 Program?

How will teachers be prepared for the K to 12 Program?