CHED’s ’10-2-3′ plan

There is a new government proposal to extend by one year tertiary education in our country. This I discovered while attending over the weekend the 34th Commencement Exercises of the Manila Doctors’ College where one of my twin boys graduated from his Bachelor of Science in Psychology course. Dr. Catherine Q. Castañeda, Director IV of the National Capital Region of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), bared this in her commencement address.

Described as one of the country’s outstanding educators, Castañeda announced that the CHED proposal came up as an alternative solution to the country’s need to upgrade the quality of Filipino graduates and make them globally competitive in the face of the harsh realities of widespread unemployment across the world.

The planned additional one year, as I gathered, will be in all courses across-the-board in all colleges and universities. The CHED official disclosed the Commission is exploring this proposal dubbed as ‘10-2-3.’ These numerals, she explained, simply denote the number of years a student must spend at each level of education.

Ten stands for the number of years in basic education that is currently being implemented in the Philippines, (six years in elementary and four years in high school). Under the CHED proposed scheme, two denotes the first two years in tertiary education that will be devoted by students for general course to increase or improve their competencies in English, Science and Mathematics. The three denotes the three years a student will spend for the specialization of the specific course he, or she would take to complete a degree or course proper.

It is an alternative solution because efforts to address the situation of increasing the number of years in basic education have been futile, she pointed out. There were initiatives in the past, she cited, for the elementary education to be extended up to Grade 7, or to extend high school up to fifth year. However, both proposals to extend either elementary grade or high school were shot down even before they could take off.

Another suggested mode is to mandate a preparatory grade before a child can qualify for Grade I in all public elementary schools. This is currently enforced in privately-owned basic education institutions. But then again, this mode was met with so much furor coming from parents and academe, especially in Congress which is the approving body.  Such negative reactions to these proposals simply reflect the sad reality that the cost of education is not a priority in the order of things in our country.

Castañeda admitted that adding one more year in basic education would be heavily burdensome for the government. She noted in particular the fact that in the Philippines, more than 80 percent of elementary and high schools are funded by the government. The situation in the tertiary education in the Philippines, on the other hand, is the reverse. Out of more than 1,000 tertiary education institutions in our country under the supervision of the CHED, she cited, the government has only 117 subsidized state colleges and universities (SCUs). Noticeably, running a tertiary educational institution must be a profitable business in the Philippines!

Hence, Casteñeda pointed out, the ‘10-2-3’ proposal could be best applied at the tertiary level with the least cost to the government and the most feasible one. She, however, conceded this plan would directly hit the pockets of the parents. But looking at it from educators’ point of view, the CHED official believes it would be to the best interest of students to enhance their chances to make it big in the real world once they graduate and become professionals if they are more proficient and highly competent.

The CHED official is too realistic to acknowledge the fact that the implementation of this ‘10-2-3’ proposal depends upon the new President of the country whoever is installed into office on June 30 this year.

This reminded me of our previous day’s presidential forum at The Star when we had as guest, Bro.Eddie Villanueva, standard bearer of his own Bangon Pilipinas party. A state scholar himself when he was in college, Bro.Eddie vowed to allocate six percent of the country’s gross domestic product to the education sector if he wins the presidency. Coming from a big family of 11 children, Bro.Eddie promised he would never allow young Filipinos to be deprived of education due to poverty.

At this juncture, let me share with you excerpts of a message of thanks from a magna cum laude graduate during the same commencement rites:

“To our beloved parents and guardians, we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to each one of you. We can never thank you enough for working hard and going the extra mile in putting a million percent of your effort just to be able for us to get educated in a quality school. Thank you for being proud and commending us when we did something great and encouraging us to be better when we fall short in doing something. Thank you for being there in every step of the way and for being our guiding light. Without your guidance, we would not have been the best persons that we are now. Thank you for being the best parents that you can all be. Your unconditional love, care, and understanding have been our driving force to succeed not only in our academic lives but also in our entire lives. We dedicate our success to you, our parents, because you deserve this just as much if not more than we do. We know that you are proud of us for successfully reaching yet another milestone in our lives. We would like you to know that we are just as proud of you for being a significant part of it and for being our beloved parents.

Last but definitely not the least, we would like to thank our Almighty God. For without Him, all these wouldn’t have been possible. We would like to thank God for His divine guidance and His overflowing love for each and every one of us. Please bless everyone who has been instrumental in our success in the completion of our tertiary education. To God be the glory. Onward Alma Mater! Happy graduation everyone! “

My son, Gianpaulo, delivered this message of thanks as the top graduate of the Manila Doctors’ College Class 2010. –Marichu A. Villanueva (The Philippine Star)