Weighing the Pros and Cons: MANDATORY KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM

Mrs. Magnarelli's Kindergarten logo (Google Photos)

“The Philippines is the only remaining country in Asia with a ten-year pre-university program, resulting to an insufficient mastery of basic competencies due to congested curriculum.” This is a statement by CEO VI Director III of Department of Education - Cordillera (DepEd-CAR) Teresita Velasco who proves that our country needs to change the year of our educational system from ten to twelve years.

Last year, the K+12 program was approved by President Benigno Aquino III. It composed of kindergarten and twelve years of elementary and secondary education which adds two years in high school. Recently, the mandatory implementation of universal kindergarten will be effective this coming school year. It requires five year old children to enter kindergarten before they enroll to first grade in elementary school. Velasco explained that the universal kindergarten education aims to ensure readiness of the children to enhance their social skills and creativity at an early age which will help them to cope with their new environment when they enter grade school.₁ In addition, Aurora Rep. Jose Edgardo Angara said the introduction of pre-school education should improve the quality of education in the public school system.₂

In order to meet the expectations in this program, most public schools are adding classrooms for upcoming kindergarten pupils. Besides, they also made the classrooms child-friendly and conducive to learning from the environment, instructional materials, facilities, and even the teachers were giving free educational materials and toys for the enrollees.

Many people agree on this program but there are others who are not favor on it. The reasons include lack of financial support for education, lack of academic preparedness in part of teachers and the idea that pre-school education should not be mandatory. There is a columnist believed that mandatory kindergarten program is not the solution to problems in education, but it relies on the improvement of teaching quality in secondary schools.

The question here is are we ready for the K+12 program especially the universal kindergarten? In fact, we should be prepared in the change of our educational system in order to meet the educational needs of our citizens and to improve the educational competencies of our country. As a matter of fact, it all started in home where parents teach their children on basics such as writing, reading, counting and socialization and they should guide and motivate them to have their interest in studying. Then, if the children are prepared enough to study, they can enroll in formal schooling which starts in pre-school where the basic knowledge, skills and values learned from home will enhance with the help of teachers, classmates and the subject matter taught in the class. In addition, pre-school education is different from first grade of elementary schooling. In the previous years, there are cases where a pupil didn’t go to pre-school and they enrolled directly to grade one. Although they have similarities in terms of learning the basic concepts, there are still few differences in terms of level of the subject matter and competencies.

For the pre-school teachers, they should choose the appropriate teaching strategies and classroom discipline for the learners and show their expertise in teaching the pupils for the better educational system of our country. Besides, the government and non-government sectors should invest on education for the salary of teachers, educational materials, and facilities in order to gain improvement in quality of education.

Therefore, the universal kindergarten program is a big help for improving the quality of education in our country, as well as the learners in public school. Being in kindergarten is the first step in having their basic education in terms of learning the basic concepts, skills and values in this level.

Sources:

₁ Kindergarten officially mandatory this year – Baguio News

(http://www.baguionews.net/news/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6730:kindergarten-officially-mandatory-this-year&catid=1:baguio-news&Itemid=9)

₂ House Okays kindergarten bill – Jess Diaz, Philippine Star

(http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=653034&publicationSubCategoryId=63)

Related Articles: Weighing the Pros and Cons: 12 Years of Basic Education

Weighing the Pros and Cons: 12 YEARS OF BASIC EDUCATION

Source: http:///www.pinoyexchange.com

Recently, the Department of Education proposed a program that improves the quality of our educational system. It is called the K+12 Basic Education Program. It comprises of kindergarten, six years of elementary education, four years in junior high school and two years of senior high school. This program will implement starting the school year 2012 – 2013.

In connection with this program, one of the plans of President Noynoy Aquino in his administration is to move our basic education system from the current ten years system to twelve years. This agenda will be a major change to our educational system, but there are many people reacted to this issue, some were agreed while others disagree. In addition, there are pros and cons to be considered in implementing the said program.

There is an advantage of this program for those students who are going to work after pursuing their secondary education. According to Education Secretary Armin Luistro, high school graduates can be productively employed even without a college degree. If the student is a graduate of senior high school and at the legal age to work, it means that he or she can land a job. If the student is not able to take this degree, technical vocational education is the alternative. This senior high school is an addition to the basic education system which is fundamental and essential for learners in order to have an opportunity towards a better life.

The curriculum of this K+12 basic education program will also allow specialization in science and technology, music and arts, agriculture and fisheries, sports, business and entrepreneurship. These fields are relevant for the learners in order to prepare for their desired careers in the future. Hopefully, the curriculum will also focus on subjects that enhance their academic competency, develop their skills and values, and recognize multiple intelligences.

Regarding with the curriculum of the twelve-year basic education system, it should be expanded through adding new subjects and dividing fields of interest which is integrated in major subjects. Based on the experiences of other students, there are topics in the textbooks that are not tackled due to lack of time (one year is not enough to finish the lessons for other subjects – sometimes those lessons are appearing in diagnostic examinations and achievement tests). That is why we need to add subjects which can consume for the twelve years basic education. It would be possible that if the program will implement and establish in the coming years, there will be additional subjects that are advanced and relevant to the learners’ competencies in order to become globally competitive.

Lastly, this twelve-year system will also address the problem in the earlier years in schooling. In United States, there is a law called No Child Left Behind which sets the high standards and establishing measurable goals that can improve individual outcomes in education through assessment in the basic skills which suit to their age. The result of this program was successful where some of the learners made progress in Reading, Writing, Science and Math at their very young age. In the Philippines, educational programs like English Proficiency program, Science and Math proficiency and “Every Child a Reader” by Grade 1 are already planning to implement in order to improve the problems in the earlier years of schooling such as poor reading and writing skills. Hopefully, the outcomes of this program in our country will also the same in the United States and other countries with high literacy rate.

But there are problems to be encountered why there are number of Filipinos are not favor with this twelve years system. There is a comment from a news website said that parents can hardly afford to pay for four years of high school, they are going to add another two years which is true among the students who came from the masses. It is not the number of years or the financial status that matters in this program. The disadvantages to be considered are the lack of textbooks and educational materials for the students, lack of teachers, lack of classrooms and facilities, large number of students in a crowded classroom, incentives and performance measures and teaching quality. In relation with the short basic education cycle, the low quality of education is also transparent by high dropping out rates of students and failing in national achievement tests and diagnostic examinations. These problems are interconnected with each other which results into low quality of education in our country.

In order to comply with these problems, currently the government has a budget for education in order to create additional classrooms and schools, facilities, and textbooks. In addition, the teachers should strengthen their knowledge and skills in order to bring better instruction to the students. Perhaps, the teachers should be given proper motivation to work responsibly through proper salary, incentives and performance measures. In terms of educational materials, the textbooks and pamphlets should be less errors and accurate in terms of content and grammatical context and there will be better instructional materials to be used in the class. This system will help the teachers to teach better.

Therefore, the 12-year basic education program is one of the solutions in improving the low quality of our education system. There are cases that ten years of basic education did not recognize in foreign universities and colleges, where they have the twelve years system. That is why; we need to establish the twelve years of basic education system in order to make our educational quality to go with the global standards and it is a major breakthrough in our educational system which leads to change towards progress of our citizens in terms of their academic competency.

In the end of this note, the 12-year basic education program is not all about quantity versus quality. It is not all about adding of classrooms, expenses and number of years. It is all about the quality of education that is needed to improve and enhance because it is the one that helps us to become globally competitive and responsible citizens of our country.

Related Articles: Weighing the Pros and Cons: Mandatory Kindergarten Program

Street Children and Education

A rovingcart with educational materials.
Source: Google Photos

Street children are exposed in living on the cities, working heavy jobs and navigating the streets just to provide the daily needs of their family. They are still young to accomplish these duties. The only thing they have to do is to play and study their homeworks in school just as the typical pastime of ordinary children. But the only problem is they have to work hard for the money to help their family and themselves for daily needs.

Street children have the rights to a better education in order to achieve a bright future. The factors that serve as hindrance are lack of financial and moral support. There are street children who want to finish their studies and achieve their dream like to become a doctor, a teacher, or a lawyer someday. Recently, the problem of providing better education for the street children is being solve with the help of non-government sectors such as social welfare institutions, religious associations, and foreign volunteers. They provide regular classes and services for the street children for free. These classes are composed of academic literacy lessons or basic education, values education, sports and recreation, free school supplies and expenses, livelihood programs and spiritual lessons in order to attain high literacy and morality. There are persons who also volunteer to help street children or out-of-school youth in other places aside from streets such as graveyards, ruined buildings or dumpsites where some poor people lived in these areas.

Every child has the right to gain quality education without any equivalent of money and expenses. Even the child suffers from poverty, they still have the right to learn and acquire knowledge. The parents should continue to encourage their children to study and develop their potential skills. The government should also give more priority for education of street children or out-of-school youth and continue to improve the system of education and support the non-government sectors in educating the poor. For the non-government sectors, continue the good job of helping the street children through education. Always remember that money and poverty are not hindrances for children to study and acquire knowledge, skills and values in school in order for them to learn and have a better future.