K + 2

By Rolo B. Cena
The Gulf Files
Dumaguete Star Informer
10 October 2010

Students and parents, tighten your belt! This is going to be a tough situation for all of you.

The announcement of K+2 by Secretary Armin Luistro of the Department of Education last 05 October 2010 during the celebration of the World’s Teachers in Pasig was, for me, a test of the waters under the bridge.

Firstly, consultations from stakeholders were not conducted. Secondly, amendment to the Education Law of 1982 was not undertaken. Thirdly, the readiness is questionable.

Sec. Armin Luistro announced that the consultations from all stakeholders shall be conducted starting this month until February 2011. What is he trying to convey to the general public then that after the fact works in this administration? Look what happened to the botched 23rd of August rescue drama!

Additionally, he professed that the program will start in 2011. And further, he said that whether or not it will succeed, he will stand firm by it. Was the legal requirement called amendment of the law in question, which requires series of congressional and senate hearings in the presence of the public done?

Are we ready, as a nation of education-battered Philippines for the shift? Do we have enough classrooms, textbooks, equipments, and teachers? Do we have the required and necessary curricula for these addenda?

The answer is obviously NO!

Cory Aquino championed democracy and served it back to our table since 1986. For all intents and purposes, Cory would consult from all parties before making a decision. It seems that P-Noy is comfortable with opening his big mouth without consulting. He even promised to the entire nation in the same ceremony that he will not leave any problem untouched. Let us see!

Assuming, for the sake of argument that consultation from stakeholders and amendment of the Education Law which were actually and technically by-passed plus the questionable readiness are fully complied with, does the administration fully understand what lags us behind in terms of educational system?

Quality!

And by quality we mean - in particular order, quality pay for teachers, quality teachers, quality curricula or instruction, quality textbooks, and quality classrooms.

Without looking at statistics, our teachers are insufficiently paid. For this reason, they are lured by the high earnings overseas even working as domestic helpers only. On separate travels, I have spoken to several housemaids in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and England who are teachers by profession. Exasperatingly, by profession I mean, they are not just graduates, they are licensed! What the heck are they doing in those places when they are supposed to be teaching young minds in the pale-painted four-walled classroom as called for by their code of ethics?

Quality teachers, whew! Pardon me but this is true. Quality teachers are dying not because of old age but because of the progressively diminishing quality of Education Curriculum we are offering in the tertiary Level. Another story of quality teachers: A Physical Education major teaching science in the tender levels and a teacher stood corrected by her students with her pronunciation of several English words in several occasions.

As a due diligence, I usually read the textbooks of our kids. Surprisingly, several textbooks appear to be excellent from the outside front cover until I read through a page with glaring mistakes. Worst, I really know the subject matter by heart. It was disgusting when concerned agencies would allow these books to be circulated in the entire archipelago without the benefit of reviewing the contents whether or not these conform to the standards, or whether or not the presentation of the facts or ideas are accurate. Hey, some writers are beginners in the field of textbook writing, henceforth, amateurs in the field of education.

Question: why do these writers write these silly textbooks? What triggers which? Who benefited from whom? How much?

Blunt as this may sound but nothing is more fitting than to define quality education in this manner: A fairy-tale-quality teacher delivering a-paper-manifested-quality instruction using an impostor-written-quality textbook with matching imaginary apparatuses while holding her class under the shade of a tamarind tree on a third shift.

Bingo! Sec. Luistro is dreaming!

While it may be true that we are the only country with a 10-year cycle of basic education, adding two mandatory years in the preparatory and two more years in high school does not solve the problem; it does not even help uplifting the quality of education this runner-up country boasts to date. I agree with Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, President of Ateneo de Manila University that this new program sounds good but when we really hold it, it doesn’t make sense at all.

Will K + 2 change the major, major equation?

Unfortunately, without addressing the issues on quality: pay, teacher, instruction, textbooks, equipments, classroom, etc, it will not and it will not at all add value to the present system. Putting new wine into the old wineskin does not help but will only damage the store.

As an educator, I would like to maintain my synthesis that in the face of cultural disparateness which is increasingly evident in the post-modern Philippine culture, the present Philippine Educational System seems to be more damaging, not enriching and convincing.

Arguably though, for as long as the old school rules the symbolic Malacanang of the Imperial Manila, not anything from the ailing Philippines will improve. Not even the public-perceived charismatic programs of P-Noy can!

Greed can never buy quality!