K12 Education in the Philippines

K to 12 program

The K to 12 Program covers kindergarten and 12 years of basic education (six years of primary education, four years of junior high school, and two years of senior high school [SHS]). This means that all students are required to enroll in Kindergarten first, before advancing into Elementary. The current 4 years of Secondary level will be changed into 6 years, divided in Junior High School and Senior High School. The batch of first year high school students on SY 2012-2013 will be the first ones to experience the new high school curriculum. This means that by SY 2016-2017 they will undergo Senior High, instead of already finishing Secondary level. And by SY 2018-2019 all students are required to have attended the full 12 years of basic Education for them to be accepted in the Tertiary level.
It is to provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship. In other words, it is a program to ensure mastery of skills and abilities after graduating in 12 years of education.
K to 12 has different benefits to both individuals and to our society and economy. To individuals: * It gives students more time to master competencies and skills * It prepares graduates with skills essential for the world of work. * Graduates will be able to earn higher wages and/or better prepared to start their own business. * Filipino graduates, e.g. engineers, architects, doctors, etc., could now be recognized as professionals in other countries for our system of education is the same as theirs. * It will help in freeing parents of the burden of having to spend for college just to make their children employable. * A student who completes K to 12 will be equipped with skills, competencies, and recognized certificates equivalent to a two-year college degree * K to 12 offers a more balanced approach to learning that will enable children to acquire and master lifelong learning skills (as against a congested curriculum) for the 21st century.
To the society and economy: * The economy will experience accelerated growth in the long run because studies show that the improvements in the quality of education will increase Philippine’s GDP growth by as much as 2%. * The Philippine education system will be at par with international standards. * It will be globally competitive.

Despite of the many advantages, K to 12 program has also some disadvantages. Some of them are the ff:

* not all schools can accommodate all the senior high school students * there will be shortage of teachers, classrooms and facilities * additional two years will make extra expenses for parents especially for the poor

Also, be informed that the Philippines is not the only country using the k-12 education, in the United States, Canada and Australia, primary and secondary education together are sometimes referred to as K-12 education, and in New Zealand Year 1-13 is used. So, based on different information I gathered, I can say that K-12 system of education will have good results financially and economically in the later years. Some may have negative opinions regarding this topic, but wait till they see the outcome of this program. I am sure that this program will become successful and will benefit not only students and Filipinos, but also our economy and country.
References:

www.kuro-kuro.org http://www.gov.ph www.wikipedia.org http://www.smartparenting.com.ph www.google.com www.yahoo.com

References: www.kuro-kuro.org http://www.gov.ph www.wikipedia.org http://www.smartparenting.com.ph www.google.com www.yahoo.com