DepEd to detail K-12 education plan on Oct. 5

The Department of Education will present, two months from now, all the details of the planned shift to a 12-year basic education system, Malacanang said Tuesday after the proposal to add two years to the current 10-year basic education drew criticism anew. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the DepEd will have the details of the so-called K-12 or kindergarten to 12th grade plan available on October 5, which is Teachers’ Day. The K-12 plan, which is part of President Benigno Aquino III's proposed educational reforms, was criticized by some quarters who said the current 10-year basic education system should be improved first. (See: Teachers wary of 'trial-and-error' 12-year educ program) "Ang gagawin po ni [DepEd Secretary] Bro. Armin Luistro para maayos po lahat, on October 5 ilalahad po niya buong istraktura ng K-12 program including the financials para maipaliwanag sa taumbayan lalo na sa mga magulang kung ano talaga ibig sabihin ng K-12 insofar as the expenses are concerned," Lacierda said in a press briefing. (So that everything is in order, Bro. Armin Luistro will explain on October 5 the whole structure of the K-12 program including the financials so the public, especially parents, will know exactly the implications of K-12 insofar as the expenses are concerned.) Lacierda also assured the public that the government will shoulder most of the costs as it involves basic education. "Essentially this is basic education, and this is free," he said. The Alliance of Concerned Teachers, non-government organization Synergeia, and various observers have said the government should work on improving the quality of basic education first before adding more years. Aquino had advocated the addition of two more years to basic education to keep up with global standards, to make even high school graduates employable, and to enable students to have more time to choose which careers best suit their abilities, among other reasons. (See: Corruption in DepEd is a major challenge for Aquino) Previous administrations had tried but failed to add mandatory additional years to basic education. Senator Edgardo Angara, who heads the Senate committee on education, arts, and culture, said he is "ultimately" in favor of the proposed 12-year education plan. "We've got to equalize our years... everybody else has 12 years," Angara told reporters in an interview on Tuesday, arguing that only the Philippines and one other country in the world today supposedly are not yet following the 12-year structure of basic education. He likewise defended the plan, saying that it wasn't "anti-poor." "In the end, it's going to help the poor because the poor gets its fighting chance in quality education. The worst thing to do to the poor is to deprive them of health and education," he said. The senator noted, however, that this doesn't mean that the plan should be implemented immediately. He said that there are "more pressing" issues facing education. "We can plan siguro (maybe) in two to three years time (then) we add one year," he said, noting that where you add the two years is key. "That kind of decision is important... those are things we ought to decide if we intend to resolve those issues when our committees organize," he said.—Jam Sisante with Kimberly Jane T. Tan/JV, GMANews.TV