EDITORIAL BOARD

existing K to 12 curriculum has been set up in the first place, current employability statistics and trends, andeducationalfunding

The current program has been criticized for not fulfilling its purpose for producing job-ready graduates; however, studies indicate that companies discriminateagainstSHSgraduates and still prefer applicants with a college degree. At a joint senate hearing last April 18, Sen Sherwin Gatchalian criticized the Civil Service Commission (CSC) for its 2019 memorandum circular, where graduates of high school from the old and new curriculum have the same entry level salaries It is glaringly obvious that SHS graduates are lowered to the same standard as graduates from the old curriculum by the government itself. With this notion, how can one expect private companies to hire SHS graduates since the government itself has set this standard? In fact, a study conducted by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) in 2020 showed that only a little over than 20% of K to 12 graduates enter the workforce and more than 70% still proceed to

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Pink Penelopy Flores

Associate Editor: Pawie Lintag

Managing Editors: Jeremy Pingol & Yancy Moron

News Editor: Khim Bryan Rebuta

Feature Editor: Lalaine Antigo

Sports Editor: Adrian Poul Blando

Layout Artist: Lianna Philisa Miranda

Cartoonist: Angelica Olesco

Furthermore, making the additionaltwoyearsoptional,while requiring Technical, Educational, and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to work with the Department of Education (DepEd) for the transition of those who wish to study TechVoc to TESDA schools will not solve this issue of unemployability of SHS graduates Even if this proposal has been approved, will it even guarantee employability in the future especially when acquiring national TESDAcertificatesisnotfreeatall?

Having said that, it is important to note that the additional two years added in the basic education curriculum through the K to 12 Act or RA 10533 were established to allow the country to match with the international standard when it comes to years of education. Making the last two years not mandatory will remove this edge that the new set of graduates will have if they ever enter the international workforce It is a realitythattheeducation systemof thePhilippinesislaggingbehindas compared to international standards. Losing the additional two years would be more detri- mental to the standing that the country’s future graduates would haveontheinternationalstage

Additionally, doing a complete conversion of the curriculum would only require additional funding for hiring of professionals, teacher training, and preparation ofmodulesamongothers.Itwould bebettertoallocatethesefundsto the increase of teachers’ salaries and improvement of existing education facilities instead Rather than focusing on revising the current curriculum, it would be more beneficial to address perennial issues with regards to lacking school facilities, congested curriculum, and learning loss brought about by the pandemic, which contributed to the low achievement of learners in global learning competencies After all, these issues in the curriculum and the entire education system have been recurring problems throughouttheyearsbecausethey arenotbeingproperlydealtwith With all these being said, there aremoreareasofconcernwiththe proposed K+10+2 program than there are benefits The country cannot afford to lose more time and taxes for a complete conversion of the curriculum Merely scraping the entire curriculum will not solve the quality of education that the country offers if the core issues in the education system are not addressed While those in power provide suggestions, these suggestions more often than not do not include insights from educators and empirical evidence Let educators and experts in the Department of Education evaluate the areas of improvement in the curriculum and further decide fromthere

Advisers: Dr Christiandon Aviado

@teacherspenauf teacherspenauf@gmail com