DepEd: K+12 next year

Despite the lack of classrooms, teachers and textbooks, the Department of Education is determined to implement the K+12 program next year.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said that they are prepared to push through with the program and are finalizing the needed textbooks and classrooms.

“That’s why we gradually implement it so we can prepare and provide the needs of the students,” he told reporters in an interview yesterday.

He said a large portion of the P318-billion budget for education will be devoted to providing textbooks and teacher’s training.

Luistro is in town for the pre-summit conference at the Eco-Tech Center in Lahug attended by teachers, non-government organizations, parents and local leaders in the Visayas region.

Luistro emphasized that the additional two years of education should not be viewed as a financial burden but as a chance to find better employment for the youth.

“The problem is not in college education, but matching the education system with the needed jobs,” Luistro said.

The changes in the academic curriculum is aimed to boost the students’ basic skills for them to qualify for a stable job.

The program under the new curriculum will focus on five core subjects—math, science, English, Filipino and social sciences.

“This will hone their 21st-century skills that are more about digitizing and technology. We wanted to match the trainings with the needs of the industry,” he said.

DepEd is set to implement the grade 7 level next school year, which he said is the “new first year high school.”

Pre-summit conferences are done all over the country to educate concerned stakeholders so they can understand the framework of the K+12 program.

“Based on our previous experience on other conferences, if stakeholders understand the program, majority of them would really support it,” he said.