How to go from 10 to 12 years

BASIC EDUCATION

‘I will expand basic education in this country from a short 10-year cycle to a globally comparable 12 years before the end of (my) administration (2016)’

——President Aquino
Campaign platform
“10 things I will fix in Philippine basic education”

MANILA, Philippines—How can two years of schooling be added to basic education without overburdening the system, disrupting the entry of high school graduates into college, and unduly increasing family expenses?

The Education Team of the Liberal Party and its then standard-bearer, Benigno Aquino III, laid out the following plan to simulate how this could be done.

Step 1A: Reintroduce Bridge Program

In school year (SY) 2011-12 (Year 1), reintroduce the Bridge Program as part of high school.

The bridge is to be a one-year enhancement program in English, science and mathematics for public elementary graduates based on the National Achievement Test (NAT) for Grade 6. Those scoring poorly on the NAT-6 would be enrolled in the bridge for one year after which they would automatically move on to HS-I.

The Bridge Program would be in place for three school years starting SY 2011-12 (Year 1) through 2013-14 (Year 3).

Step 1B: Every child a reader by Grade 3

Starting SY 2010-11 (Year 0, the current school year), the Department of Education (DepEd) should ensure that “every child should be an independent reader by the end of Grade 3.”

Children unable to read independently at the end of Grade 3 should not be promoted to Grade 4. Otherwise, schooling will become remedial education at the expense of new learning. The inability to read with comprehension is the single largest handicap to learning.

Pupils at the end of Grade 3 must also be able to do the four operations of arithmetic with proficiency (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).

If children are able to read, write and do arithmetic proficiently through Grades 4, 5 and 6, then by SY 2014-15 (Year 4), there would be no need for the bridge. This level would be converted into the first year (HS-I) of a new five-year high school program.

In preparation for the five-year high school, DepEd should complete the review of the high school curriculum at least two years before (SY 2012-13 or Year 2) so that it can be rearranged from four years of high school to five years by SY 2014-15 (Year 4).

Step 2A: Bring 6-year-olds to school as kindergarten

Starting SY 2011-12 (Year 1), stream all 6-year-olds into kindergarten with 7-(and 8-)-year-olds going into Grade 1.

Every year for the next four school years, DepEd should work to bring in 20 percent more 6-year-olds into kindergarten until 100 percent of the age group are enrolled by SY 2014-15.

This will be a major effort considering that only one-third of all 6-year-olds are in Grade 1 even after 15 years of the official policy. The key to this are parents who should be made to understand the importance of bringing their children to school at the right age. But it also means building the infrastructure to accommodate an additional 600,000 plus 6-year-olds in kindergarten every year.

Once 100 percent of all 6-year-olds are in kindergarten (SY 2014-15 or Year 4), this can then be converted to Grade 1 in SY 2015-16 (Year 5).

At that point, the entire elementary cycle would be renamed Grades 1 to 7 (e.g. Grade 1 renamed Grade 2, … Grade 6 renamed Grade 7). This would mean “accelerating” every pupil by one year in what would be a one-time adjustment. At the same time, HS-I would be renamed Grade 8, HS-II would become Grade 9 and so on with HS-V becoming Grade 12.

Thus, by SY 2015-16 (Year 5), the 12-year cycle would be complete.

Step 2B: Build a preschool infrastructure for 5-year-olds

Starting SY 2011-12 (Year 1), build the proper preschool infrastructure for 5-year-olds in every public elementary school.

Preschool is an important building block for children. Worldwide research shows that children who do preschooling have a higher likelihood of completing the elementary schooling cycle. That’s important for a system that loses almost a quarter (24 percent) of all children before the start of Grade 4.

DepEd should start building the preschool infrastructure 20 percent at a time over a five-year period. At this rate, about 700,000 plus 5-year-old pupils would come into the public school system every year for five years starting SY 2011-12 (Year 1).

By SY 2015-16 (Year 5), 100 percent of the projected preschool requirements should be in place to make preschool universal for around 3.5 million Filipino children. By then, the second point in P-Noy’s basic education agenda would have been met: “All public schoolchildren (and all public schools) will have a full year of preschooling as their introduction to formal schooling by 2016.”

Final configuration

The final configuration by SY 2015-16 onwards would be a preschool to Grade 12 cycle with preschool and Grade 7 part of elementary education. High school could be divided into a three-year junior (regular) high school and a two-year senior high school.

A regular high school diploma at the end of Grade 10 for purposes of work (for those fixed on retaining the current 10-year cycle). For those interested in university education, senior high school focused on college preparatory courses should be a requirement.

Tech-voc, business-agri

To encourage students to stay through Grade 12, however, two alternative tracks for senior high school could be offered: A technical-vocational track that could lead to industry certification, and a business/agribusiness track for those interested in entrepreneurship.

The PS-7-5 arrangement intends to use the existing elementary and high school campus infrastructure.

Addressing concerns

With an additional year of high school, will universities have one year of no enrollees?

At no point will there be a year with no graduates from high school. The bridge will result in one year when the number of high school graduates will fall and enrollments in university will be lower (SY 2015-16). But that is a one-year adjustment after which succeeding years will be back to normal numbers.

Will families be burdened by costs for the additional years of schooling?

Public schools have no tuition since the Constitution provides for free, universal public basic education. There are, however, incidental costs to families (uniforms, school supplies, transportation and baon). It is only starting SY 2015-16, however, when parents will have to bear the additional incidental costs since this is the first year of impact on families.

There are measures to help poorer families deal with these costs, including the use of conditional cash transfers (4Ps or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development). This is one way to help these families gain access to more, not less, education.

Will private schools be forced to follow the 12-year cycle?

The recommendation is to focus the reform on the public school sector and let private schools adjust based on their own resources.

Over time, universities will look for the additional years of basic education. At that point, private schools may have to follow the public school system. This will have real costs to families. To help families, DepEd should scale up the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education to include more private schools and students in the education service-contracting scheme.

(Juan Miguel Luz [juanmiguel.luz@gmail.com] is associate dean for development management at the Asian Institute of Management. The education reform team of the Liberal Party [National Institute for Policy Studies] that crafted the basic education reform platform included former education secretaries Edilberto C. de Jesus, Butch Abad, Fe Hidalgo and Erlina Pefianco, former education undersecretaries Luz and Chito Gascon, former assistant secretary Lily Roces, former education director Angelico Mercader and former head of Adopt-A-School program Sharon Baquiran. The team consulted with many from the private education sector and almost all of the major education associations and teacher organizations with nationwide coverage. The author headed the education reform team.) –Juan Miguel Luz, Philippine Daily Inquirer