Joint congressional panel to review K-12 program

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian FILE PHOTO

The joint congressional oversight committee will meet in January next year to review the K-12 program in terms of its declared objective to make students more competitive for the workforce.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate’s basic education committee, said in a statement, “The K-12 program is a massive historical educational reform we introduced to produce quality of graduates that our country needs. While the program has gaps and challenges, we need to sustain it in a way that also addresses implementation issues to provide quality education and boost global competitiveness.”

Strategic solutions

Critics of the program, which added two more years of senior high school, say it has not met its objective. Gatchalian cited lack of adequate equipment in schools as among the obstacles to the program.

“We need to come up with strategic solutions because industries will suffer and decline without a workforce equipped with the competencies required of the 21st century and Industry 4.0,” he said.

Gatchalian said the legislature would ensure that the program would be properly funded.

Allocation increase

The House of Representatives has allocated P551.7 billion to the Department of Education (DeEd) for 2020, increasing it from the Duterte administration’s proposal of P550.89 billion.

“As we work toward finalizing the 2020 budget, we will ensure that the program gets an allocation that responds to the needs of both students and teachers. We need to make parents and students feel that this program is helpful, not an added burden,” Gatchalian said.

The DepEd said it was open to a review of the program and consultations with lawmakers.—LEILA B. SALAVERRIA