Student groups spearhead signature campaign vs K to 12

Video by Ryan Leagogo/INQUIRER.net

Over a hundred groups against the government’s K to 12 program are aiming to get at least a million signatures nationwide to support the abolition of the education reform program, which they say will “increase joblessness in the country.”

Youth groups, such as the League of Filipino Students (LFS), National Union of Students in the Philippines and the College Editors Guild of the Philippines, spearheaded the launch of the signature campaign on Friday in front of Ramon Magsaysay National High School in Manila.

LFS deputy secretary general Aries Gupit said the signatures that they would be able to collect throughout the country would be sent to government agencies directly involved with the program, like the Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education.

“With the signatures, we will be able to show to the government the number of Filipinos against the K-12,” Gupit said. He added they were also looking into the possibility of using the signatures as a supporting document in future legal actions that they would file against the K to 12.

The education reform program adds two years of high school to the country’s current 10-year basic education program. Students entering senior high school in 2016 have four tracks to choose from: Academic, technical-vocational livelihood, sports and arts and design.

In a joint statement issued by the 114 groups yesterday, they said the K to 12 would “increase joblessness, bring additional burden to the Filipino youth and their parents, and worsen the current education crisis.”

“Because K to 12 graduates can immediately start working, the government renders college education as nonessential, a luxury or reserved only for advanced studies. This will only serve the government’s policy of reducing to a complete cut off of public spending for state universities and colleges,” they said.

‘Length of school cycle’

The groups added that a local study by education experts, “Length of School Cycle and the Quality of Education,” found that “there is ‘no basis’ behind the claim that lengthening the education cycle will improve [the] quality of education [in the country].”

Eastern Visayas State University’s The Industrial Wheel, University of the Philippines Mindanao’s Himati, University of Nueva Caceres’ The Democrat, and the Philippine Normal University’s The Torch Publications are among the 114 groups who signed the statement.

LFS national spokesperson Charisse Bañez said the program would also lead to an increase of out-of-school youth in the country.

“In our own estimates, K to 12 will force about one million students to enroll in private schools or state universities that impose skyrocketing tuition ranging from at least P25,000 to P80,000 every semester. This implies that [the] K to 12 will increase the number of out-of-school youth in the country while ensuring profit for [the private schools],” Bañez said in a statement.

She added that calls for the abolition of the reform program will “continue to spread” nationwide as they “continue to hold protest actions and gather more allied organizations to strengthen our campaign.” RC