ON March 11 Education Secretary Bro. Armin A. Luistro, FSC, presented the Department of Education’s (DepEd) midterm report on the status of the implementation of the K to 12 Basic Education Program to the House of Representatives in coordination with the Office of Speaker Sonny Belmonte. This is consistent with Section 14 of the K to 12 law (Republic Act 10533), which provides, among others, that the DepEd “shall conduct a mandatory review and submit a midterm report to Congress as to the status of the implementation of the K to 12 Program in terms of closing the following shortages: (a) teachers; (b) classrooms; (c) textbooks; (d) seats; (e) toilets; and (f) other shortages that should be addressed.”
Some of the important updates provided by Luistro as to where we are now are as follows:
- As of School Year (SY) 2014-2015, there are more or less 21,042,250 learners enrolled in our public schools, while 2,931,309 learners are enrolled in our private schools for a total elementary and secondary students of 23,973,559.
- Completion rate in elementary increased from 72 percent in 2010 to 79 percent in 2013. In secondary schools, completion rate almost stayed the same at 75 percent in 2010 and 2013.
- c. National Achievement Test (NAT) Score, likewise, increased in both elementary (68 percent in 2010, while 70 percent in 2013) and secondary (48 percent in 2010, while 54 percent in 2013).
- Average spending per student in public schools increased from P8,862 in 2009 (or prior to the assumption of President Aquino into office) to P16,066 in 2015.
- As of end-2013, the number of classrooms constructed (to address classroom shortage inherited in 2010) is 66,813. An additional 21,992 classrooms are expected to be completed using the DepEd’s 2014 budget allocation.
f.As of end-2014, the number of teachers hired was 128,055.
Luistro then explained to our legislators the following to show where we will go as we continue to prepare for our Senior High School (SHS) implementation:
- A total of 1.2 million to 1.6 million students are expected to proceed to Grade 11 in SY 2016-2017 from our public schools (and more or less the same number of students to Grade 12 in the following SY 2017-2018). Out of this number, around 800,000 to 1.1 million students shall go to our public SHS and around 400,000 to 500,000 are expected to “transfer” to “non-DepEd SHS,” which refers to private SHS and SHS implemented by private higher education institutions (HEI) or state universities and colleges.
- Estimated number of public SHS classrooms needed, given the above figures (40 students per classroom), is 20,000 to 28,000 classrooms for our incoming Grade 11 students for SY 2016-2017 (and more or less the same number of classrooms for our Grade 12 students for SY 2017-2018).
A total amount of P45.62 billion is allocated in the DepEd’s 2014 and 2015 budget which is enough to construct 29,800 SHS classrooms and another 25,000 more or less are proposed to be constructed under the 2016 DepEd budget.
- The estimated number of public SHS teachers needed given the above figures (nine teachers for every six class sections) is 30,000 to 41,000 teachers for our incoming Grade 11 students for SY 2016-2017 (and more or less the same number of teachers for our Grade 12 students for SY 2017-2018).
- Out of the current 7,914 public Junior High Schools (JHS), the indicative number of current public JHS to offer SHS is 5,020 and the proposed public stand-alone SHS is 196 for a total of 5,216 public SHS.
- Other requirements for our SHS like chairs, tech-voc laboratories and equipment are expected to be procured under our 2014 to 2016 budget allocations.
The aforementioned again is only a portion of our Luistro’s report to our Congress. There is no doubt that with the entire nation’s support and help, the implementation of K to 12 shall be successful.
Mabuhay ang Kabataang Filipino!
Lawyer Toni Umali is the current assistant secretary for Legal and Legislative Affairs of the DepEd. He is licensed to practice law not only in the Philippines, but also in the state of California and some federal courts in the United States after passing the California State Bar Examinations in 2004. He has served as a legal consultant to several legislators and local chief executives. As education assistant secretary, he was instrumental in the passage of the K to 12 law and the issuance of its implementing rules and regulations. He is also the alternate spokesman of the DepEd.
3 comments
Who validates government agents’ report? Is it the masa? The students? the Parents? But are they given opportunity to be heard????
Nice to see that we are moving along with the K to 12. Let us move forward by supporting this program for the future of our youth.
totoo ba yung NAT ? in my experience the public school teachers provides the answers during the examinations that was way back then somewhere in the 90s on my elementary years(NEAT as they call it cant recall.. is it still the practice ?
Also is the curriculum updated ?
when i was in college in a state university i was taking Up computer science course, my subjects Turbo C, Turbo Pascal, which were already obsolete by then..
I hope its not just extending the years of education but also validating the curriculum if its still with coping with the current national standards..
was just wondering if K-12 is really the key or we need to revisit our practices/subjects/curriculum in teaching…
based on my own experiences and opinion only 🙂