EDITORIAL - Let K to 12 be an election issue

Since K to 12 is scheduled for implementation next school year, some schools have already started advertising their readiness for the new program that adds two years of basic education to high school. Some schools have advertised themselves thus: "So and so Academy or so and so Institute is K to 12 ready." Not to be outdone, other schools have gone a step further with their advertising: "So and so University is K to 12 ever ready."

Truth in advertising leaves little or no reason to doubt that schools know whereof what they advertise. That schools that advertise K to 12 readiness are private schools leave even less room to doubt their claims. Readiness of private schools for K to 12, or anything else for that matter, is restricted only by their capacity and willingness to utilize their own resources.

What is doubtful is whether public schools can make the same claims to readiness as private schools, even if the advertising comes free. Even in normal times, when no special demands are being exacted and no special preparations are being made, private and public schools never get to share the same standards nor occupy the same levels of excellence, with the notable exception, of course, of a few state-run higher institutions.

But by and large, there is a vast ocean of disparity between private and public schools, especially between private schools entrenched in major urban centers and public schools scattered far into the remotest towns and barangays. And the disparity can only get more pronounced as the matter of comparison ironically becomes even more crucial and important, such as K to 12.

In other words, while some schools, almost invariably privately-run, can truthfully claim to be K to 12 ready, the same cannot be said for the vast majority of public schools scattered all over the country. In many parts of the country, such as in the Yolanda-stricken areas, there are still many schools that have not been rebuilt, their students, already behind under normal circumstances, making do with what they can learn under the most makeshift and temporary of conditions.

And yet K to 12 is supposed to be implemented simultaneously across the board. It will make no distinction between a private school with airconditioned rooms or a public school being conducted under a mango tree. And all because this government has a one-track mind that sees only the dream but not the reality. It sees only the "world class" students K to 12 can produce in private schools but not the products of neglected public schools "nga mag-nganga lang unya ang mga baba."

The best way to deal with K to 12 is to make it an election issue. Maybe it should be demanded of presidential, vice presidential, and senatorial candidates running in 2016 to make a stand on the matter. The 2016 elections can very well serve as a referendum on K to 12. Let the people's will prevail and not the dictates of a few obstinate and arrogant officials.