BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—Two groups, one supportive of the K to 12 basic education program and the other critical of President Aquino’s education policy launched separate movements here last week, hoping to sustain their campaigns beyond the end of Aquino’s term in 2016.
Members of Akbayan Youth gathered at Teachers Camp last Friday to organize the Malayang Edukasyon Movement (MEM) and cement what they perceive to be the positive changes that will be created by the K to 12 reform.
The following day, the University of the Philippines Baguio and groups led by Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Rep. Antonio Tinio launched the Rise for Education Alliance.
The alliance, its organizers said, will be a venue for discussions on why the changes the Aquino administration has made to the education system are being dictated by world events, instead of the country’s needs.
Though the two groups had differing views, they were similar in at least one concern—that the K to 12 educational reforms could be used as a platform for companies to generate manpower for the Asian job market.
Curriculum development
In a news conference here last week, Akbayan chair Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel said MEM advocates for the development of a curriculum that will pursue subjects like math and science from a Filipino perspective, and retains subjects like the humanities to help students make “lifelong choices.”
She said the three-day MEM conference was a venue for the youth to suggest ways to extend to the college level and the technical vocational program many of the benefits from the enhanced grade school, middle school and senior high school programs after 2016.
Akbayan Youth chair Rafaela David said the MEM was examining the possibility of making state college education free by 2020, much like public grade schools and high schools are free as mandated by the Constitution.
David said the government’s education budget, touted as the highest sectoral state allocation, was not being spent efficiently. She said this could be realigned to subsidize students who find a college education too expensive.
Baraquel, who is a director of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), described the K to 12 enhanced basic education program as “an essential reform” to upgrade the standards of basic education.
She said the gains of K to 12 had to continue so they will benefit students by the time they sign up for college or the technical vocational programs.
The Rise for Education Alliance also offered itself as a venue for discussing the rationale and impact of education reform under the Aquino administration.
Crisis and transition
“I believe we are in a period of crisis, a period of transition, because of changes dictated by forces outside the country such as this year’s Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) integration and globalization, and domestic issues involving the school system [such as classroom shortages and low teacher salaries] that have long been a problem of many developing countries,” said Raymundo Rovillos, UP Baguio chancellor and a convenor of the movement.
“My attitude here is to be open to debate and conversation, to have a critical position about what is happening [while keeping in mind] the call for social justice and equality,” he said.
He said UP submitted to the changes introduced by the government as a consequence of Republic Act No. 10533, or the K to 12 Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013.
But like many universities, Rovillos said, UP is struggling with the problems created by K to 12, such as job security of tenured professors who used to teach general education subjects that would be offered to senior high school students next year.
All colleges and universities also face low to zero enrolment from 2016 to 2018 because of the requirement that potential college freshmen in 2016 undergo the two-year senior high school program, Tinio said.