Private schools fear losing billions under K-12

THE Department of Education’s Kindergarten to 12 program (K-12) will only bear losses for private schools and colleges nationwide amounting to P128 billion, as the number of enrollees are expected to decline, the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA) said over the weekend.

Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA) Chairman Jose Paulo Campos said the amount only covers the four –year undergraduate programs and does not include the five-year courses and graduate programs.

“This does not include the five-year programs like engineering and physical therapy and graduate programs like law, medicine, dentistry, masteral and doctoral degrees,” Campos said.

Campos said the estimated amount of P128 billion is based on the computation of 400,000 students cohort at P40,000 per student every year and is multiplied by eight cohorts.

“With grades 11 and 12, walang papasok sa first and second year [nobody will enroll in the first and second year] and that is a wave running through. If this is implemented, eight years worth of enrollment would be gone,” Campos said.

Although they are supportive of the program, Campos stressed that the DepEd should still “reexamine the issues involve the education and that they should look into reforms on higher education.”

Last February 28-29, COCOPEA held their 4th National Congress where Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA) Director General Joel Villanueva emphasized that with the program, the country will have at least 1.2 million graduates every year.

Villanueva pushed anew for the new education curriculum, stressing the vital role of K to 12 in raising the quality of education to make the country catch up with the rest of the world.

“The introduction of the K to 12 is a major educational reform that impacts not only on basic education but also on technical education and skills development and higher education,” he said.

“We recognize that TESDA has an important role to play in the K to 12 reform initiative and under the leadership of DepEd, we affirm our commitment to make it work and succeed,” Villanueva added.

Villanueva said the K to 12 program would harmonize the policies and programs of TESDA with those of DepEd and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

The program will also set a standard Philippine Qualifications Framework, rendering mainstream the qualifications offered by the agency, and prompt it to further improve its learning infrastructure in terms of curriculum, trainers, and other processes.

The assessment and certification of students, he said, will be part of the K to 12 curriculum. Students, who will opt to engage in technical-vocational studies will undergo assessment and after passing, they will be issued certification either a National Certificate I (NCI) or a National Certificate II (NCII).

“NC I & NC II TESD qualifications will be mainstreamed in the specialization phase which falls during Grade 9-12. Thus, it becomes imperative for TESDA to move up and focus towards the development and implementation of higher level qualifications,” Villanueva said.

Earlier, Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the curriculum for incoming Grade 1 pupil and the graduating Grade 6 students will be the initial focus of the gradual implementation of the program once classes for school year 2012-2013 start in June this year.

Base on the said program, graduating Grade 6 students will be the initial batch who would undergo Grade 7 which would be the first level of the four year junior high school before proceeding to another two year level secondary education which will be known as senior high school.

The incoming Grade 2 up to Grade 6 students in primary level as well as the second year and fourth year students in the secondary level will still use the old curriculum prior to the full implementation of K to 12 program by school year 2016- 2017.

Luistro said some P31 billion have been added to last year’s P207 annual budget to fund the implementation of the curriculum for Grade I and Grade 7 or the first year junior high school of the K to 12 program.

On the other hand, the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) has claimed that additional two more years in the country’s basic education system and the closure of courses is not the solution to the crisis gripping the education sector.

“If the government does not provide sufficient budget for education, then the implementation of K+12 would only mean additional years of burden. What we need is a higher state subsidy, not budget cuts. Free books, good infrastructure and facilities, quality education as well justifiable salary for teachers,” the CEGP said in a statement.

“It will only make Philippine education more inaccessible for the majority. In the first place, education is a right, not some sort of product in the grocery store,” the CEGP said. –FRANCIS EARL A. CUETO, Manila Times