Majority of Filipinos support K to 12 education program — SWS survey

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Most Filipinos believe the K to 12 (Kindergarten to Grade 12) program of the Department of Education (DepEd), which adds two years to the 10-year education cycle, will better prepare students for work and college, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey being cited by the DepEd to promote the program.

Quoting from the survey, the DepEd said in a statement that 65 percent of Filipinos thought the new program would give students sufficient knowledge and preparation to  pursue higher education.

The survey also showed that 59 percent believed more students would be encouraged to complete the senior high school program since it would be  equivalent to taking two years of college in high school.

Tina Ganzon, head of DepEd’s communications department, said the agency  paid for the rider questions in the March 2012 SWS survey to get the public pulse on the program.

The survey, which covered 1,200 adult respondents nationwide, was conducted on March 10-13 using face-to-face interviews. The survey had a sampling error margin of three to six percent.

The DepEd said those who believed (strongly believe and somewhat believe) that students stood to benefit from the program had always been a majority in the surveys conducted in June 2011 (59 percent), September 2011 (63 percent) and December 2011 (57 percent).

Compared to the previous quarter, the proportion of those who believed in K to 12 rose by 15 points in Metro Manila, 12 points in the Visayas and  eight points in Luzon, excluding Metro Manila.

Across socioeconomic classes, it rose by 11 percent in class D, from 55 percent in the previous quarter to 68 percent. This  slightly changed in class E, from 58 percent to 60 percent, and in class ABC, from 70 percent to 67 percent.

Public awareness of the K to 12 program rose from 38 percent in December 2011 to 49 percent in March this year, the highest since SWS began monitoring in June 2011.

This year, the DepEd began implementing the K to 12 curriculum in Grade 1 and Grade 7 to prepare public schools for the program’s full implementation by 2016.