K to 12 to Create More OFWs, Not Development of Philippines – UP Prof
Elementary students in Parola, Tondo. FILE PHOTO BY BERNARD TESTA
MANILA – The government’s K to 12 program will only create more overseas Filipino workers, developing other countries but not the Philippines, a professor of the University of the Philippines said in a forum Saturday.
At the forum in UP-Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila, Prof. Ramon Guillermo said the program was flawed from the very beginning.
“The government hastily implemented the program even without thorough studies, only to sustain its labor export policy to serve foreign interest, detrimental to our national development,” he said.
“Ang puno’t dulo ng edukasyon sa ating bansa ay paunlarin ang ating sarili, hindi upang paunlarin ang ibang nasyon (The beginning and end of education is to develop ourselves, not other countries),” he added.
“We should revise our educational system for national development, not to serve foreign interest under a labor export oriented policy,” he reiterated.
K to 12 flaws
Guillermo said the primary objective of K to 12 is to force students to take vocational courses to fill the need that is in continuing decline in other countries.
“Gusto ng pamahalaan na dumami ang kumuha ng vocational at technical courses upang tugunan ang pangangailangan sa manggagawa ng ibang bansa para sa kanilang kaunlaran,” he said.
Under the program, pre-tertiary education students will take two more years in basic education system in what would be called Grades 11 and 12.
With the new program, parents will have to spend more in tuition and other expenses.
“Ngayon pa lamang, apat na taon sa high school, hirap na hirap na ang ating mga magulang na mapagtapos ang kanilang anak. Pero sa K plus 12, lalong dadagdagan nito ang kasalukuyang problema,” Guillermo said.
(“As it is, with four years of high school, many of our parents are finding it difficult to send their kids to finish high school. But K plus 12 will worsen the problem.”)
Guillermo said he believes the program will only increase the number of high school dropouts as parents are unable to bear the additional cost of education.
Also, Guillermo fewer Filipinos will be able to take college as high school student will only be allowed to go to college if they pass a test by the Department of Education.
“Mababawasan ang bilang sa dalawang bahagi. Uunti ang bilang ng mga magsisipagtapos sa high school, kaya dadami ang bilang ng walang trabaho, dadami din ang sector na pinahihirapan sa ating lipunan, ang matitira sa gitna, sa pagitan ng high school at nakapasok sa kolehiyo, babagsak sila sa vocational and technical education,” he said.
(“The reduction will be in two parts. The number of high school graduates will drop so we will have more jobless people, the sector that society always oppresses. The ones left are those in the middle, between high school and college, they will go to vocational and technical education.”)
The education department aims to decrease the number of college students to force them to take vocational and technical courses, he added.
“Hindi makakapasok sa kolehiyo ang maraming kabataan kasi walang pera. Samakatuwid, pipilitin siyang maging voc-tech upang makatulong sa pag-unlad ng ibang bansa at maipagpatuloy ang labor export policy,” he added.
(“Many young people will not be able to afford a college education because of lack of money. So they will be forced to take voc-tech courses to help in the development of other countries, and to continue the labor export policy.”)
At the same time, Guillermo said government funding for state universities and colleges (SUCs) continues to decline but monies for Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is increasing.
“Why not focus on research and development in public university? However, in public universities, we are now being corporatized, benefiting private corporations,” he said.