UNICEF opposes move to amend K-12 program

MANILA, Philippines —  An official of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) bucked the move to amend the K-12 program as President Marcos joined the growing critics to the 12-year basic education.

UNICEF Education chief Fushimi Akihiro backed instead the implementation of the strengthened Senior High School after the Department of Education (DepEd) piloted the amended SHS program to more than 800 schools as classes opened on June 16.

“The K-12 is the right direction which the Philippines has taken and we fully support that and we fully support the piloting of the (strengthened) Senior High School curriculum as the classes open so that we can have a very solid K-12,” Fushimi said.

Marcos has responded to calls by some senators to scrap or reform the program institutionalized into law in 2013.

“If you look at the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) of countries for example, for the basic education duration, it’s 12 years in general,” Fushimi noted.

The Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 or K-12 law added two years of senior high school to the Philippines’ basic education system and allows senior high school students to specialize in one of three tracks – technical-vocational-livelihood, sports and arts and design.

“Starting from early childhood education before K-12 and life learning including Alternative Learning Education, that’s the way forward but the important thing is to ensure flexible learning pathways and opportunities. We are all different and the countries are diverse and people in different communities and environments so we need to really adjust ourselves,” Fushimi added.

UNICEF has warned of a “real and widespread learning crisis” in the Philippines, as recent findings revealed that a vast majority of students are falling significantly behind in reading and mathematics.

Citing data from a 2019 study, it said that 90 percent of Filipino children in Grade 5 cannot read at their expected level, while 83 percent continue to struggle with basic mathematics.

For his part, World Food Program deputy country director Dipayan Bhattacharyya said that hunger affects the learning of Filipino children.

“What we know is that when this multi-country learning outcome was analyzed. They looked at what are the contributing factors to this poor learning outcome in the Philippines and they came out (with) various factors… and one of them is actually malnutrition and poverty,” Bhattacharyya said.

Bhattacharyya added that lack of access to nutritious food at the family level contributes to poor learning outcome.

“We would really go for universal targeting (on school feeding program) rather than targeting specific children but of course when we talk about universal school feeding program, it’s expensive and that’s why we are talking to the government in terms of seeing geographic targeting where you have high rates of prevalence of malnutrition,” he said.

He noted that the UNICEF is currently supporting a multi-sectoral nutrition program which covers 230 municipalities.

More education budget

For their part, House deputy minority leader and ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro, together with ACT Teachers representative-elect Antonio Tinio urged yesterday the Marcos administration to double the education budget allocation to six percent of the country’s gross domestic product to address the staggering 165,000 classroom shortage.

Castro and Tinio cited that a study of the EDCOM II showed severe classroom congestion persists across the National Capital Region, Calabarzon, Region XII and BARMM, with some areas showing 90 percent of elementary students enrolled in overcrowded schools with student-classroom ratios of at least 1:50.

Tinio said the Commission on Audit revealed last year that the DepEd under former secretary Sara Duterte completed only 192 classrooms out of a target of 6,379 rooms in 2023 – a dismal 3.01 percent completion rate.

“In our inspection during the Balik-Eskwela last Monday, we saw the overcrowded schoolrooms, the lack of schoolrooms and the tiring shifting schedules that are directly the fruit of neglect of the administration,” Castro said.

Castro said that in one school, they have “teachers’ hub” for blended learning, but its appearance resembles a call center or computer shop.

The ACT Teachers representatives also criticized the previous administration’s handling of education funds, noting that despite having substantial budget and even confidential funds, the DepEd under Duterte’s leadership failed to deliver basic infrastructure commitments.

“This is not just about numbers – this is about the future of our children. Every overcrowded classroom represents lost opportunities for quality education. We demand immediate action from the current administration to address this crisis with the urgency it deserves,” Tinio said. – Jose Rodel Clapano