12 years for HS, grade school eyed

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Education Secretary Florencio Abad is "seriously considering" extending the country’s 10-year elementary and high school "basic education cycle" to 12 or more years despite "stiff resistance" from parents.

At a press conference here over the weekend, Abad said that "at 10 years — six years in elementary and four years in high school — we have the shortest education cycle in the Asia-Pacific."

He said the average basic education cycle in the Asia-Pacific region is 12 years, adding that the cycle in Japan and South Korea is 13 years. "Some (other countries) are even contemplating 14 years," he added.

"We have to realize that the competition out there is very intense — so if our children are not equipped with the necessary competency then we will lose out," Abad said. "We are seriously looking at — and this has to be an act of Congress — extending, for example, our high school so we can have junior high school," he said.

Abad said such plans will be put through consultation with local officials and parents. "We are encountering resistance, especially from parents, because they want their children to finish studying fast, regardless of the quality of education that they get," he said.

"We understand that, because many of our parents who are poor see the graduation of their children as their liberation from poverty," Abad said.

However, "we have to realize that if we do not produce quality graduates, we can not have the quality employment and we will end up with a kind of employment to which many of our people can qualify, such as the OFW (overseas Filipino workers) kind of employment," he added. Many OFW’s are employed as domestic helpers.

He warned that unless changes in the education cycle are made, the Philippines "will not be able to produce enough graduates to take on the high-paying jobs."

Abad said the Philippine education system is in a serious crisis, citing that the national achievement test showed an average score of 46.80 percent for fourth year high school students and 58.73 percent for grade six pupils.

"We are facing problems in poor quality of education especially in math, science and English," he added.

Abad also warned that the non-implementation of the expanded value-added tax (EVAT) will seriously and adversely affect the quality of education in the country.

The EVAT is projected to generate some P105 billion for the government, part of which is earmarked as supplemental funds for basic education. The Supreme Court has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the implementation of the EVAT.

Abad said that "the economic managers and the President have committed that 30 percent of (the EVAT proceeds), which is about a minimum of P30 billion, will be invested in education and the social services."

While "education gets the lion’s share of the budget among national government agencies of P112.5 billion, it’s not really much if you take into consideration that 89 percent of that amount goes to salaries, seven percent goes to MOE (maintenance and operations expenses) and only 11 percent goes to capital outlay which we use to build schools," Abad said.

"(The education budget) is not much, but if we get P30 billion for education and social services, that is a huge addition to the budget that the education department can use for many of its programs and services," Abad said. "We are hoping that takes place. Otherwise the government will have a hard time providing additional budget for our requirements." — Ding Cervantes