CHED backs another year in HS

If the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has its way, Filipino students will undergo 12 years of basic education, two years more than the current system.

Dr. Ester Garcia, CHED chairperson, said it is not enough for Filipino students to spend six years in elementary and four more years in high school to prepare them for college.

She said the Philippines and Burma are the only countries in Asia with 10-year basic education; the others follow the 12-year system.

As such, Garcia said many Filipino students "don’t even know what course to take" when they graduate from high school.

"Their parents decide for them, and when (they realize) what they want, they have already spent a year or two in college," she said.

Garcia, however, recognizes that adding two more years for basic education is costly for the government and a burden to parents.

Instead, CHED supports a one-year pre-baccalaureate system or an additional year in high school, as the Philippine Commission on Educational Reform recommended.

This system is intended to improve the level of secondary education and better prepare students, who will not go to college, for employment.

High school seniors will have to take a National Testing System and those who flunk it, will have to take the additional year in high school.