K-12: To each his own

There are certain issues that are better left on their own until it the time when things become obvious and clear. In the case of the K to 12 program of the DepEd, the more time that goes by, the more confusing the whole thing gets.

When the Department of Education launched its K-12 or kindergarten to Grade 12 program, the presentation and explanations were so confusing that a lot of people found it hard to understand much less engage in. How can you argue or debate a matter that you can’t fully understand?

It was as if the DepEd had adopted the motto of Garfield the Cat that goes: If you can’t convince them, confuse them. From the onset, it was certainly going to be almost impossible to convince parents all over the country that it would be to their children’s best interest to add 1 or 2 more years of schooling.

The school year has already started and a lot of us parents are not exactly clear if the DepEd is adding one or two years? The most common answer I get is it depends on the school your child is enrolled at. Heck! K-12 is supposed to be a national policy! So if we’re not even clear about how many years, how can we even discuss benefits?

Actually, I have a feeling that all of this conflict and confusion will ultimately end up in a congressional investigation or in cases before the courts if not the Ombudsman. Every time I find myself in some social gathering I keep hearing about how several private schools are “cheating” or getting around the K-12 program by claiming that their students are far advanced than normal public school kids so the private school kids automatically qualify for acceleration.

In effect only the new enrollees coming in at kindergarten or prep would be getting a taste of the K-12, while current enrollees simply jump grades which means no disruption in the present time. Sooner or later all this creative solutions are going to cause even bigger problems especially for some colleges and universities that will experience a drop in enrollees.

Now would be a good time for LGUs and regional leaders in education to conduct independent studies on the real situation on the ground. Are schools and universities in sync with the K-12 program or is it a case of “kanya-kanya” now but chaos later? What possible repercussion will the shift to K-12 have on future collegiate enrollments? Believe it or not, things are only beginning to heat up in Metro Manila, so it would be safe to assume that the K-12 tsunami will soon come to a school near you!

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The Curse of Corona, that accursed voluntary waiver now has several politicians on the defensive. I suppose you would if you constantly find your mug shot on Facebook as one of several politicians who vehemently refuse to sign a waiver for your bank accounts and foreign currency deposits.

Thanks to the Internet and photo shop, a bunch of social network activists have been posting posters, names and faces and even properties of politicians who refuse to sign their waiver. Give it time and I predict that the Catholic Church will soon be coming out with its own position paper on the matter.

As I have often quoted; “the measure you judge others, that same measure shall you be judged by.” All of us must now put the pressure on all our elected officials to come clean and stay clean beginning with the waiver. This won’t stop thieves from taking the people’s money but it will certainly make things more complicated by forcing them to use other means or other people to hide their ill-gotten wealth.

A perfect example would be the case of a former congressman who tried to hide around 2 million dollars in a Swiss bank account. What the politician miscalculated on was the presence of the anti-money laundering network that was tracking terrorist funds. The Swiss authorities immediately advised the Philippine government regarding the questionable placement and advised them to investigate the matter.

The Arroyo government took no action, but voters did by handing the once pogi and popular congressman a humiliating defeat. Perhaps we should do the same come election time. Those who refuse to sign the “Corona waiver” should not be voted into public office.