K Plus 12

K plus 12 and BEC. These are two terms I learned from my two sons during breakfast this morning. My eldest son, Edman informed me that BEC is Basic Education Course and that is the system that’s existing and being used. "K plus 12" or Kindergarten plus 12 years. I have heard of this program but have not actually confirmed of its implementation. It was Edman who pointed out that since Tommy is graduating from Elementary this March, he is already subject to the K plus 12 program.  Having little knowledge on the matter, I googled it and here’s what I found out:

“K plus 12 program is based on an intensive curriculum review, taking into consideration curriculum reviews that have been done in the past. The Department of Education (DepEd) points out that only 16% of college students actually graduate from college. The proposal will benefit the 84% who may not get a college degree.  It aims to make basic education sufficient enough so that anyone who graduates can be gainfully employed and have a productive life.”

Sounds good. Some parents I know would have the same sentiment as mine. I know of one Chinese family friend who made his son stop his studies and gave him a business to manage. I saw his son when he was still a little boy, without a care in the world and at present, he is pretty successful. He took the business to heart, worked at it with blood, sweat and maybe, tears and he was able to buy himself his own car. Don’t get me wrong. I am not at all saying that we do away with our college education but if there was an option of not taking the traditional Basic Education Course, then so much the better.

I told Tommy he has to improve on his grades and do good in school because if he doesn’t I would have to ask him to stop. He would have to look for a job to sustain his needs… Tough love. When I think about it now, if he has 6 years of high school and if in case he doesn’t pursue his college education, would that be enough to land a job? Would there be decent companies out there that will hire a high school graduate? Would they even be called degree holders??

When my two sons started schooling and with the tuition fees soaring, I dreamt of the day when Colleges will have just about the necessary subjects that a student would need to prepare him for work or business. Do courses really have to be 4 to 5 years in duration? I have to admit that even before I entered college, I chose a course that had the least Math subjects in it. Mass Communications. Little did I know I would still have Algebra and Trigonometry in my 1st two years. I also had Chemistry. These subjects we also took in High School.

My thoughts, if it were I who would be putting up a school/College where you can get a degree with only two years’ worth of subjects, would the approval be handed down by DepEd? How often are curriculum reviews done? Does DepEd alone do the review and how often? Does it have court ruling or a House Bill perhaps?

I read this post from a batchmate on Facebook. It said:

HOUSE BILL 5311, authored by Hon. Isidro Ungab of the 3rd District, which states that all the State Universities in the Davao Region; to name a few, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHEASTERN PHILIPPINES (USeP), DAVAO ORIENTAL STATE COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, AND THE SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES AGRIBUSINESS AND MARINE AND AQUATIC SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY (SPAMAST) will be integrated into one school called DAVAO REGIONAL STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM (DRSUS).

He is calling other USepians to counter this bill for many reasons for example: 1.) Gradual face-out of courses 2.) Price hike in units taken by students 3.) Budget cut where teachers will most probably be the most affected. 4.) For students wanting to enroll in other courses, they would have to go to Mati, Davao Oriental to do so.

I don’t know the reason behind the integration of these schools but after reading about the proposal of K plus 12 and DepEd needing more money to run it, the ones hit first by this are the State Universities. DepEd has proposed budget cuts. The Domino effect.

My wish is that we have more people in government whose ambitions are not confined to their own desires. Well it is a wish, some wishes do come true…with prayer. My dream is for my children to have the best education… and hopefully doing so inexpensively.