K to 12

The Philippine Supreme Court has ruled as constitutional the K to 12 program, which increased the basic education curriculum from 10 years to 12 plus kindergarten. It was rolled out by the Noynoy Aquino administration in its dying days against the misgivings and objections of many Filipinos at the time.

The Supreme Court ruling matters not to most people in the Philippines. Except for the desperate but misguided few who questioned its constitutionality in an apparent bid to stop or at least delay the K to 12 implementation by whatever means, it was clear to most that the constitutionality of the program was never in doubt.

It was not the legality or illegality of the program that people objected to but its timeliness. Most people, including this writer, were agreed that, all education being always good and beneficial, the K to 12 program was therefore good and beneficial. The main beef of people was that it should not have been implemented at the time the Aquino administration did.

At the time, and perhaps to a large extent even at this time, existing school facilities such as school buildings and classrooms, especially in the rural areas, just simply could not accommodate the sheer number of students who, instead of moving on to college, would be staying on to get what is now known as senior high school education.

Aside from the lack of classrooms and buildings, especially in areas ravaged by super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), areas that even today have not been completely rehabilitated, there was also a complete absence of teachers competent to handle senior high classes, teaching being a very subject-specific profession.

But despite the glaring shortcomings and utter lack of preparations, the Aquino administration went ahead and rammed the program down the collective throats of Filipinos, for no other reason than that it wanted a lasting legacy to mask its absolutely unremarkable performance.

From my own personal experience, as a father to a daughter who was part of the very first batch of Filipinos to undergo the senior high program, I can say with unwavering conviction that these pioneering students never got what they were supposed to benefit from with the added two years.

This original batch of senior high students just breezed through the program in a blur. It was all pro-forma. I have yet to know of a single student who failed to pass. Everybody was like a can kicked down the road for the sake of policy and compliance. My daughter's principal, in all candor, admitted it was all trial and error. Hopefully by this time all is well with K to 12 a year on.