Fact check: Senior high has not been replaced with mandatory military service
MANILA, Philippines — The government has not announced any plans to remove the senior high school program and replace this with a two-year military service requirement.
CLAIM: A Youtube video claimed that Vice President Sara Duterte has greenlighted the removal of Grades 11 and 12 in basic education and replaced this with a two-year military service program—a move she supposedly promised during her vice presidential campaign in 2022.
RATING: This is false.
Facts:
What the video says
Youtube channel “Showbiz Fanatics” uploaded a video on April 29 claiming that the new K to 12 curriculum under Duterte, who is also education secretary, has been revised to remove two years of senior high school.
The channel erroneously claimed: “Ito ang malinaw na mensahe ni VP Sara Duterte para sa tila lalabas na bagong curriculum under the K to 12 curriculum kung saan ang two year additional sa senior high school ay tatanggalin na at ipapalit dito ang two year military service (This is the clear message of VP Sara Duterte for the expected new curriculum under the K to 12 curriculum, where the two additional years of senior high school will be removed and replaced with two year military service).”
The video said Duterte “promised” to replace classes with military training during her campaign for the vice presidency in 2022.
What the video left out
Neither the Department of Education nor Duterte have announced plans to remove Grades 11 and 12 in basic education, and there are no pending bills in Congress to abolish the senior high school program.
DepEd has also repeatedly announced that it is still conducting a review of the senior high curriculum, with Duterte in January acknowledging inadequacies in the curriculum and skill issues with graduates.
RELATED: Duterte: K-12 students ready for work right after graduation 'still a promise'
The Youtube channel also misstated that Duterte promised to replace senior high with a mandatory military service program.
In an online caravan during the 2022 electoral campaign, at the 1:20:22 mark, Duterte said that those who reach 18 years of age should serve in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and be given a stipend. She did not say that this will replace Grades 11 and 12.
In June 2022, Duterte's camp issued a statement denying a similar claim. Then-spokesperson for Duterte, Christina Garcia-Frasco, said that Duterte never released a statement saying that she will amend K to 12 to include two years of compulsory military service.
Essential context
At the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (Pampanga) has filed a measure seeking to make Grades 11 and 12 mandatory only for those entering college, essentially bringing back four years of high school in basic education.
Similar false claims that K to 12 has been abolished have been revived since then and debunked by VERA Files and Rappler.
Why we fact-checked this
The Youtube video has reached 9,000 views as of press time.
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Philstar.com is a founding partner of Tsek.ph, a collaborative fact-checking project for the 2022 Philippines’ elections and an initiative of academe, civil society groups and media to counter disinformation and provide the public with verified information.
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