MANILA, Philippines - With more than P31-billion increase in its budget for 2012, the Department of Education (DepEd) is now ready to implement its ambitious K+12 basic education curriculum (BEC) plan.
“DepEd intends to address the current requirements and shortages in the next two years so that it can focus its resources in latter years towards addressing the significant resource requirements for the full implementation of K+12 in 2016,” Education Secretary Armin Luistro said.
He said the DepEd is both heartened and challenged by the administration’s support for the program, especially through bigger budget allocation for the department at P238.8 billion next year from this year’s P207 billion.
The program aims to address deficiencies in elementary education as well as enhance the competitiveness of the high school curricula. Officials said the program is designed to help students adjust to the fast-changing demands of society by providing graduates with essential skills for local or global employment or for college education.
Under the K+12 BEC plan, the country’s current 10-year basic education, covering six years of elementary and four years of high school, will stretch to 12 years – six years of elementary, four years of junior high school (Grade 7 to 10), and two years of senior high school.
Education officials have noted deficiencies in competencies in core subjects of English, Math and Science among Filipino high school graduates.
The Philippines is reportedly one of only two countries in the world with 10-year BEC. The other is Myanmar.
Luistro explained that while much has yet to be done to help the country meet the challenges in education, the 15 percent increase in the 2012 budget for education will greatly help the Aquino administration improve the quality of learning in Philippine schools.
The increased budget will allow DepEd to build more classrooms and hire more teachers, among other critical needs.
DepEd Undersecretary for finance and administration Francisco Varela said the DepEd will work on the prompt implementation of education programs and on threshing out ways to ensure that scarce resources are efficiently utilized.