Teachers, parents oppose adding 2 more years to basic education

The proposal for a 12-year basic education has a great chance of being implemented under the incoming administration as this is one of priorities in the 10-point educational agenda of President-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

However, teachers and parents continue to oppose adding two years to the basic education, seeing it as an added burden.

The Teacher’s Dignity Coalition (TDC) said adding two years to basic education is not the solution to the problems in the education sector.

The TDC said that the new government must focus on resolving the shortage of resources in public school system by putting more funds in the education sector.

“The additional years in basic education would only mean additional years of burden to students, parents, and teachers if the basic problems would not be addressed,” the TDC said.

Lisa Perez, a public high school teacher, strongly disagreed with the additional two-year plan, saying “it will not make any difference.”

Perez claimed that instead of adding burdens to the life of the students and to their parents, “they should strengthen the education curriculum in the country.”

Margarita Abalos, mother to a grade five and a first year high school student, said if the government pushes through with the 12-year schooling, she might be forced to get her children out of school, send them to the province to help harvest crops to be sold in the market.

A household helper, Abalos said that the two years are additional burden to parents like her with meager resources.

“Now, I’m having problems looking for money needed to support their everyday transportation fare and projects in school. What more if there would be two more additional years, I don’t think they can even finish high school,” she said in Filipino.

The Department of Education (DepEd) is open to the suggestion but called on government to prioritize the perennial problems that hound the education system such as the shortage of classrooms, textbooks, and teachers.

The Presidential Task Force on Education (PTFE), a multi-sectoral body created by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, said that the 12-year basic education system cannot be considered as high priority.

PTFE chairman Fr. Bienvenido Nebres said that “adding two more years to schooling may further cut back the number of children financially unable to finish school.”

Based on the reports of PTFE, the suggestion for 12-year schooling may benefit only 20 percent to 30 percent of children. “But there is 70 to 80 percent who do not go on to postsecondary education today,” he said.

Proposals for 12-year basic education have been discussed since 1930s. The clamor for its implementation has been revived when President-elect Aquino announced during the campaign that he will “expand the basic education cycle, from a 10-year cycle to a globally comparable 12 years, for our public school children… so they can get into the best universities and the best jobs after graduation.”

Last Wednesday, the Philippine Business for Education (PBED), a group of the country’s top businessmen pushing for education reforms, called for adding two years to the country’s 10-year basic education to meet global standards and ensure that students have enough time to learn their lessons.

A forum attended by education reform advocates said that aside from shortage in classrooms, teachers, and textbooks, the country’s ailing educational system also suffers from another major shortage —school years.

According to PBED executive director Chito Salazar, the global standard for a student to enter the university is 12 years of basic education.

“This is the reason why many universities abroad do not recognize our high school graduates because they are lacking in years here.”

He said that adding two years — one in elementary school and another in high school — would greatly improve the quality of education in the country. The 12-year education plan includes seven years of primary (elementary) education, and five years of secondary (high school) education.

Source: Mb