F. Sionil Jose (2021) wrote, “And Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, I owe her my National Artist Award; next to Marcos, her regime was longest, lackluster and marred by the ‘Hello, Garci’ scandal.” How has she been? Inside academe, here is the latest: Arroyo is pushing for “K+10+2” to replace the current basic education program. She sees K-12 as long, lackluster, and marred, doesn’t she? Let us listen to her voice.
“In a country like the Philippines where the poverty incidence is 18%, there should be an option for the young to graduate from basic education soonest, after four years of high school, so that they can help their parents in their farms or micro-businesses,” Arroyo said in her explanatory note of her House Bill No. 7893. The proposed measure of the former president (for nine years!) and now Senior Deputy Speaker will give students the option to take up two additional years of post-secondary or pre-university education in a bid to be ready for professional degree studies.
Napakaliit na pagtanaw sa problema. So wrong.
(I had the honor to be invited by her during Kapehan sa Malacanang for college editors two decades ago, and had the time to talk to her for the second time when she and other Macapagals joined us in a webinar concerning Nationalian, a National University-offered course. Kaya po kabisado ko ang kanyang tinig, maliit man o malaki’t nagngangalit; nakadagdag pa rito ang etnometodolohiya kung aaralin ang pakikipag-usap niya sa isang opisyal ng COMELEC sa telepono sa panahong hindi pwede.)
Going back to the proposed measure of GMA, I also have the honor to meet and be under the deanship of Dr. Jessie Barrot, who is now a university VP. A top-ranked educator-researcher, Dr. Barrot wrote the following on his social media account:
“I’m not sure if this proposal will get to the bottom of the problem. Even if we make it K-100, if we don’t resolve the core issues, any change in scheme will be useless just like what happened in the past. So what can we do?
✅ Enhance the curriculum by focusing them on the 21st century competencies. There’s just too many unnecessary and low-value learning competencies in the curriculum. Some teachers struggle to implement the curriculum not because they can’t do it, but because it is unrealistic.
✅ Adopt a systemic approach that ensures teacher quality. This begins with teacher education programs and extends to in-service professional development programs.
✅ Give teachers commensurate salary. Quality requires cost. Don’t burden them with so many paper works. Let them focus on teaching so they can be excellent at it.
✅ Provide students a conducive learning environment and adequate resources. I have seen classes with too large class size, bad ventilation, limited basic resources, poor Internet service, etc. How do we expect our students to learn in these conditions?
✅ Practice good education leadership. Quality education requires effective leadership at all levels. They should have a clear vision, be committed to reforms, and decide based on evidence, reason, and common sense. No favoritism. No politicking. No power tripping. These are for weak leaders only.
✅ Instead of introducing another law, recalibrate the SHS curriculum by allowing students to choose between techvoc and pre-university tracks. Align the techvoc track to the needs of the appropriate industries and be selective with subjects under each track.
✅ K-12 is not the problem per se when SHS graduates can’t land a job. It’s also the mindset of employers and absence of law that would prioritize SHS graduates on appropriate jobs. Surely, our government can do something about this.
“In the end, it’s not the number of years in school that really matters, whether 10, 12, or 10+2. It’s about the expected quality of education which we don’t have yet. But I’m hopeful we can make significant improvements in the future.” (JS Barrot Facebook, with 87 shares as of May 3, 2023)
Need we say more? On stretching the public’s patience with politicians, best wishes. Hoping it won’t take…long?
DC Alviar
Professor DC Alviar serves as a member of the steering committee of the Philippine International Studies Organization (PHISO). He was part of National University’s community extension project that imparted the five disciplines of a learning organization (Senge, 1990) to communities in a local government unit. He writes and edits local reports for Mega Scene. He graduated with a master’s degree in development communication from the University of the Philippines Open University in Los Baños. He recently defended a dissertation proposal for his doctorate degree in communication at the same graduate school under a Philippine government scholarship grant. He was editor-in-chief of his high school paper Ang Ugat and the Adamson News.
