Another burden for parents

I am objecting to the implementation of the K-to-12 education program for high school students. It adds another burden for parents. A two-year vocational technical education after high school has been with us for more than 50 years. So what else is new?

What the government wants to implement is similar to the K-to-12 education system in the United States, where high school students generally graduate at the age of 18 years. As reported, in the United States, 85 percent of the schools are state-owned and are fully supported by the government. However in the Philippines there are many private schools with no support from the government; two additional years in high school will be a real heavy burden to the parents.

The overwhelming reason for junking the K-to-12 educational system is the widespread poverty in the Philippines. Connected with poverty is the rampant malnutrition among many children of school age, which is the cause of many of their illnesses. Poor parents who are trying to earn a living to keep their children in school become sick themselves.

The dropout rate among school-age children is very high. From Asia News, as reported in the Internet, about “6 million Filipinos never finish school by reason of poverty.” To support this claim are the TV news reports which show schoolchildren walking barefoot several kilometers to school. A number of them even have to cross rivers by swimming. So how can we expect all of these children to finish elementary school and four years of high school, much less grapple with two more years of an extended high school study?

A solution perhaps is for the government to make available for free a two-year technical college all over the country after a four-year high school, that is, if it wants to count 12 years of basic schooling for everyone.

Another reason for the Supreme Court to junk the present K-to-12 idea is, it will displace or, even worse, terminate thousands of college teachers and nonteaching personnel from their jobs for no urgent and sufficient reason at all.

—EUSEBIO ESTRADA,

Kamias, Quezon City