LET US EMBRACE THE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL WITH A HEART

Contributed by Jessa S. Alarcon – Mariveles, Bataan

The School Year 2016-2017 will be the first roll-out of Grade 11 in the Senior High School. Like any other program to be launched initially, this project is not exempted in bringing into focus some issues. Various problems came out, from inadequate number of teachers, classroom shortage, lack of textbook and other references, but still the Department of Education is unshakable in its decision to pursue this K to 12 Curriculum. 

In my opinion, the additional years in our educational system is acceptable and timely, considering that we are one among those remaining four countries in the world that still apply the ten years of schooling in their educational system.

The alarming decline in the quality of education in our country is a wake-up call for our education sector authorities. It really needs to be given particular attention especially now that our neighboring Asian countries are steadily improving their quality of education.

The sad state of our education system had been manifested in the international study called the” Trends in Math and Science Survey (TMSS), wherein the Philippines’ rank is not impressive. However, let us not totally blame our teachers. We should also take into consideration several other factors that contribute to the overall dwindling quality of education in our country.

First is the budget, although the biggest slice of our national budget is allotted for education, still, this is not enough.  There are more clamors for other needs. Compared to the budget allotment of other countries which put premium in the quality of education, ours is a far-cry

We always take pride in ourselves as being recognized in other fields of endeavor as intellectually matched with citizens from other countries, however, it is sad to realize that we really are lagging behind in terms of quality education.

So teachers, let us be involved in the reorientation of our real concern in education. Let us maintain the high literacy rate of our country. Finally, let us embrace this Senior High School program with a heart.

Reference: 

DepEd Order 31 s. 2012 Implementation and Policy Guidelines of the K to 12 Education Program (2012)