The government’s K-12 program, which added two more years to high school education, should be made optional so as not to limit the choices of an estimated 400,000 students who failed to enroll in Grade 11 this year, according to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.
Trillanes, who has asked the Supreme Court petition to suspend the K-12 program, said the reported number of Grade 10 graduates who did not enroll in Grade 11, the first year of senior high school, showed that the Department of Education (DepEd) was ill prepared to implement the program after thousands of students were not accommodated.
Some 200,000 to 400,000 students failed to enroll in Grade 11, reports quoting Education Secretary Armin Luistro earlier stated.
But DepEd Assistant Secretary Jesse Mateo said there was no definite number yet of those who failed to enroll in Grade 11 as figures were still coming in.
According to Trillanes, the fact that some 400,000 students were unable to enroll in Grade 11 and would be unable to complete senior high school was a “crisis.”
Under the K-12, those who finished only up to Grade 10 or only four years of high school would be considered high school undergraduates and would have limited options, he noted.
“They can’t be competitive anymore. Most likely, they will end up as construction workers, domestic helpers, prostitutes, or criminals,” he told the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.
But if the DepEd, under the Duterte administration, issues a department order making the K-12 program optional, students who completed Grade 10 could be considered high school graduates.
This means they could proceed to college or to technical-vocational courses at once, while those who want to continue the K-12 program could still do so.
“As it is, finishing Grade 10 would be enough for them to pursue higher learning. They can still compete. They can be hired and they won’t be classified as high school undergraduates,” he said.
It would be up to employers to decide if they want to hire high school graduates who completed Grade 10 or the K-12 program, he added.
According to Trillanes, his beef was with the DepEd’s inadequate preparation for the K-12 program.
He blamed the DepEd for failing to prepare all schools to handle the K -12 program.
Thus, many students have to look for new schools to complete Grades 11 and 12. If there is no school offering K-12 near them, they will be discouraged from enrolling.
But Mateo, in response to Trillanes, said there was no crisis so far.
He said the DepEd was still collating figures. It also recognizes that there are problems in implementing the program, and has measures to address these.
One is the voucher system wherein a student is provided with funds to subsidize enrollment in a private school for senior high.
“It’s important that we implement this because in the long term, it will benefit the country,” he added.
The senior high school program intends to make basic schooling in the Philippines at par with other countries by increasing the number of years from 10 to 12.