Is the Philippine education really deteriorating?

Answer 1

The K to 12 plan of the Department of Education in the Philippines contains several elements so in its evaluation, each element must be addressed:

(1) Kindergarten: There is ample evidence supporting early childhood learning so this is a good part of the proposed plan. For this to be successful, adequate support both from national and local levels of government is necessary. The way it has been implemented so far leaves a lot to be desired. Kindergarted should be afforded well trained teachers as well as adequate facilities. The answer here is "yes".

(2) Mother Tongue Instruction in the first two grades: The instruction of the mother tongue is helpful as it allows the young pupils to become more comfortable in their second new home, the school. The use of the mother tongue as medium of instruction, like any factor in the learning process, depends on its efficiency. The efficiency, on the other hand, depends on the competence of the teachers. The most effective medium of instruction is the medium a teacher feels most comfortable teaching the subject. This is from the perspective of the instructor. On the other hand, the learner must be comfortable with the medium that is employed as well. The best scenario, of course, is when the two match. With these in mind, it may be suggested that a "one size fits all" approach is not advisable but a "case to case" basis must be employed. So, the answer here is "maybe".

(3) A spiral curriculum to teach math and the sciences: A spiral curriculum looks at the disciplines of math and sciences in an integrated fashion. This works well especially in the early years, where a cursory treatment of these subjects is made and the basic fundamentals are covered. However, in later stages, a spiral curriculum does not agree well with the fact that each discipline has a vertical structure of concepts and skills. In later stages, a spiral curriculum will be more demanding of the teachers, as each teacher now needs to have considerable competence and mastery in multiple branches of math and sciences. The answer here is "yes" in elementary, but "no" in high school.

(4) No formal subject of science in the first two grades: Science can be introduced to children at an early age. Children are naturally inquisitive at their age. Science education in the early years also do not require expensive laboratories or equipment so early education in science is very affordable. To throw away this opportunity is a big loss. The answer here is "no"

(5) Two years will be added to the end of high school. The problems the Philippine education are currently facing involve high dropout rates and poor performance in standardized tests. The educational system in its current 10-year program is failing. And it is failing at the early grades: dropout rates are already high by the end of elementary schooling and the standardized tests are given to grade IV and 2nd year high school students. Clearly, the problems lie in th early part of the Philippines basic education. Two years added at the end do not address these problems. The problems come from high pupil:teacher ratios in classrooms, multiple shifts in schools, lack of materials, and poor salaries of teachers. Diokno noted that to arrest the deteriorating Philippine education system, the budget of DepEd must be doubled. This estimate is reasonable as most of DepEd's budget involves salaries, and to decrease the pupil:teacher ratio from 70:1 down to 35:1, for example, involves doubling the teachers. The additional two years in the current K to 12 plan will require a minimum of 20% increase in the DepEd's operating budget. It therefore becomes a question of priorities. Without addressing the current problems and creating new demand for resources will only make matters worse. So the answer here is "no".

Answer 2

I would like to think not but as we can see today Philippine Education is really deteriorating little by little. Most of the establishments now a days is more focused on the business itself rather than teaching the students a world class education. I hope that the government and those in authority will realize this sooner before it completely fall apart.

Answer 3

Actually, this K12 is good but in some situations i disagree. Filipinos do not come in the same family status. Remember we have three family classes. The first class families will easily agree because despite of the skills and additional knowledge to be taught to their children, they have the money and other resources to spend. Poor families surely cannot afford even if we consider the fact that they are enrolled in public schools. Allowance, everyday expenses and their basic needs are the things a poor child is bearing in mind. A poor child is eager to finish his study as soon as possible to help in the daily needs of the family then here comes the K12 program. I think this is not fair. Poor people are the ones affected in here. Even if we will say that they can work after they graduate in high school but is it 100% that they will all apply the skills they learned? No. And is it a guarantee that they will all be employed in government offices if they are only high school grads? No. Because surely many of them will sacrifice to pursue college to attain a degree to have more chances to apply as government employee. But that K12 hinders them to graduate as soon as possible.

But since that K12 is already effective this school year, i would rather suggest that they will provide more instructional tools to use, improve ventilation and facilities, construct more buildings just like here in the provinces that we are more than 60 in one room which is so crowdy, hire more competent teachers if you are aiming for global competency. And provide more jobs here in the Phils so that after they graduate they will not go to other countries and impart their knowledge instead of here. Create more jobs so that chances will motivate the students covered in the K12 program.

Answer 4

Yes.