Backing off from K-12 is like doing a ‘Mayweather’

If the reform of the Philippine education system being undertaken now were a boxing match, giving up on the K-12 program would be like “doing a Mayweather,” to the detriment of the quality of education in the country, according to a group of Catholic educators.

“We are no Mayweather. We will win not by running away from the challenges that come our way,” said De La Salle Bro. Jun Erguiza, president of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP).

Critics of the K to 12 program, which adds two more years to the basic education cycle, have brought their case against it to the Supreme Court.

Under K to 12, schooling now includes kindergarten and 12 years of basic education—six years of primary education, four years of junior high school and two years of senior high school.

“We will throw our punches and claim our coveted dream of reforming the basic education system. We have to make this happen. Our nation, our people cannot afford to delay this any further,” Erguiza said in a statement posted on the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

In the view of CEAP, an umbrella organization of 1,252 Catholic schools, colleges and universities nationwide, this is the opportune time to reform the country’s education system, which it said has been talked about for four decades.

Erquiza stressed that the K to 12 program is the key to having quality education in the country and for Filipino children to be more globally competitive.

“The K-12 Act is not for the women and men of today. It is for our children to go beyond what we have achieved,” he said.