A deep dive into basic education
The statistics are alarming but is a course-correction in order?
On Proyekto Pilipino, we’ve taken another of our deep dives into a topic. I believe this sets our show apart: the ability, and willingness, to pursue a topic for however long it takes, to have an informative discussion.
I was able to participate in two episodes on Basic Education, but unfortunately, missed the third. But here are all three and I hope you will take time to watch them all.
Our educational standing as measured by tests is catastrophic at first blush, but there are a few mitigating factors that should give pause for thought. One such factor is taking tests in English. There are other developments that are equally troubling: we score very high on bullying, for example.
There are proposals to again revise the Basic Education system even though we are barely at the point where the first class to have gone through all of K-12 has yet to graduate or will only be graduating now. This is also part of the discussion.
Here are the three episodes!
Kulelat ang Pilipinas sa 58 na bansa na nag-participate sa 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).”
That means our grade 4 students ranked last in Math and Science out of 58 countries across the world.
There may be many reasons behind this ranking, but is K-12 one of the solutions? In this episode of Proyekto Pilipino, Fr. Tito Caluag and his trio of distinguished guests—Manolo Quezon, Leloy Claudio, and Carlo Santiago—talk to Elvin Uy, former assistant secretary for curriculum and instruction and K to 12 Program coordinator of the Department of Education (DepEd). He talks about how the K-12 Program was 88 years in the making, how it aims to solve many gaps in education, and how it wants to bring up our competencies against international standards.
“Dapat matuto tayo sa karanasan natin at ng ibang mga bansa.”
2.“Ano ba ang tamang lenggwahe na dapat gamitin sa ating mga paaralan? Nasaan na ang Philippine History na subject? Ginagamit lang ba ang K to 12 para makapag-export tayo ng workers abroad?”
There are numerous questions and discussions surrounding the implementation of the K to 12 program, but what we need to understand is that it’s not just simply an additional 2 years of education or 2 years of burden on our citizen’s pockets; K to 12 hopes to change the way we teach our students to make them ready for the next stage of their lives and, hopefully, competent against international education standards.
“Ito ang pinakamithiin ng K-12 program: Makahubog ng Pilipino na kayang makipagsabayan sa iba’t ibang larangan, dito man sa ating bansa o sa ibang panig ng mundo."
This is Part 2 of our conversation with Elvin Uy, where Fr. Tito Caluag and his trio of distinguished guests—Manolo Quezon, Leloy Claudio, and Carlo Santiago—tackle the opportunities and challenges of K to 12.
“As we’ve seen in our own history, a lot of our socio-political movements are preceded by educational reform. We need to be patient with educational reform. It is a long-term investment.”
Following criticisms and issues surrounding the K-12 program, the latest proposal now is to make a K+10+2 system—essentially making Grades 11 and 12 mandatory only among those who wish to pursue higher education. As we wrap up the discussion on K-12 on this episode, we try to make sense of why K-12 deserves to stay and how it can be made better.
We cannot solve all the problems in education in a snap. We have to study the data, reflect on what we can improve, and invest in making K-12 a better foundational education system for Filipinos.
This is the final part of our conversation with Elvin Uy, where Fr. Tito Caluag and his trio of distinguished guests—Manolo Quezon, Leloy Claudio, and Carlo Santiago—tackle the opportunities and challenges of K to 12.
In other news I was a gusest on Howie Severino’s podcast for Independence Day and here’s our discussion.