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MANILA, Philippines?Besides a shortage in classrooms, teachers, and textbooks, the country?s crumbling educational system also suffers from a shortage in school years.

Education reform advocates are clamoring for an additional two years in basic education to meet global standards and ensure that students have enough time to learn their lessons.

?The global standard is, before you enter the university, you need 12 years of basic education. That is why many universities abroad do not recognize our high school graduates because they are lacking in years,? said Chito Salazar, executive director of the Philippine Business for Education (PBED), a group of the country?s top businessmen who are pushing for education reforms.

?In Southeast Asia, we are the only one with a 10-year basic education. The nearest is Cambodia with 11 years. Even Myanmar (Burma) is ahead of us,? he added.

Salazar said adding two years?one in elementary school and another in high school?would improve the quality of education in the country.

College education affected

?Our curriculum is actually based on a 12-year system but we are squeezing it into 10. You cannot absorb that much so we really need to spread it out over 12 years,? he said.

He said the lack in school years also affected college education because the first two years in tertiary were being used to ?repeat high school subjects? through the general education subjects.

?We don?t have enough time for our majors and professional subjects because one third of our curriculum in college is general education. So, it affects the quality across the board,? Salazar said.

According to him, improving basic education is better than adding two more years in college, as proposed by the Arroyo administration, because basic education is mostly public and is supposed to be free while most of higher education is not.

?Seventeen to 18 million of our 20 million are in the public schools. That?s 90 percent so it will be in the public school,? Salazar said.

?As a matter of fact, the government proposal of adding years in the tertiary is actually worse because, all of a sudden, what should have been the state responsibility now becomes a private responsibility,? he added.

P13B yearly

But the shift to a 12-year basic education system would also cost the government around P13 billion annually.

?That?s why we?re really pushing for an increase in the budget to really add those years. You?ll take about 4-5 years up to that level so you don?t need everything right away,? Salazar said.

It will also not lead to a major disruption in the education system, said former Education Undersecretary Mike Luz, who has a plan on how to implement the proposed 12-year educational cycle.

This entails bringing back the bridge program, or the one-year remedial studies for incoming high schools students, and beefing up kindergarten. In five years? time, the bridge program would be transformed into first year high school while kindergarten is renamed Grade 1.

Grade 12

?At that point in time, the Bridge becomes one, one becomes two, two becomes three ? and now you have five years of high school. That?s regular five years high school. The fifth year we?ll rename it Grade 12,? Luz said.

?So, there will be no major impact. It?s like they?re just going into stream,? he added.

Having a 12-year educational cycle is also at the top of President-elect Benigno ?Noynoy? Aquino III?s 10-point educational agenda, which he unveiled during the campaign.

?I will expand the basic education cycle, from a 10-year cycle to a globally comparable 12 years, for our public school children. At present, those who can afford basic education get into the best universities and the best jobs after graduation,? Aquino said.

Increase budget

That?s our position because we?re one of the last countries that have a 10-year program, And then it is compounded by the fact that we have shifting. So what was eight hours a day in school is now only four hours. What will be the effect?? he added.

However, Aquino admitted that educational reforms might be constrained by budgetary problems, especially with the large public deficit he is inheriting from the Arroyo administration.

?My basic persona is I don?t spend what I don?t have in my wallet. What we?re targeting is to increase (the education budget) by 2 percent and that will amount to P150 billion already. But that depends on how much the deficit would be,? he said.