Trillanes: DepEd giving PNoy wrong information over K-12 implementation

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Sunday accused the Department of Education of deceiving President Benigno Aquino III into thinking that the country is prepared to implement the K to 12 program, even as he questioned the need to add two more years to the basic education curriculum.

Citing data he gathered from making the rounds of public schools nationwide, Trillanes claimed that DepEd is ill-prepared to roll out the program next year.

According to him, several schools still lack classrooms, teachers, and instructional materials to accommodate the millions of students who will enroll in the senior high school level.

Moreover, he said the DepEd has failed to resolve the issues he raised against the program when the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 (or Republic Act 10533) – the basis of the K to 12 program – was debated in Congress in 2012.

Trillanes was the only senator who voted against the bill’s passage.

“I’ve raised these issues [about the DepEd’s lack of preparation] in 2012, but I never got in the way of their preparation for the program’s implementation. Pero talagang wala eh. DepEd is already lying and deceiving the President.

"Hindi pa handa ang Pilipinas para sa K to 12,” he said in an interview on dzBB on Sunday.

Under DepEd’s enhanced basic education program, a student will be required to undergo kindergarten, six years of elementary, four years of junior high school and two years of senior high school.

The implementation of universal kindergarten began in the School Year 2011-2012, followed by a new curriculum for Grade 7 in S.Y. 2012-2013.

S.Y. 2016-2017 will mark the nationwide implementation of the Grade 11 curriculum, to be followed by the Grade 12 curriculum in S.Y. 2017-2018.

PNoy fed with wrong information

Trillanes, an administration ally, said he had talked to the President about suspending the implementation of the K to 12 program, but admitted he’s having difficulty convincing Aquino.

The chief executive is being fed with wrong information from DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro and other members of the government’s education cluster.

“Dalawa ang kausap niya (Aquino): Ako at ang array of advisers niya headed by Bro. Armin, CHED (Commission on Higher Education) commissioners and other consultants.

"Lahat sa kanila ay nagsasabi sa kanya na we’re prepared at ready to go [to implement K to 12]. Syempre nakapaglaan na rin ng pondo para doon kaya hindi niya (Aquino) makita at his level [kung bakit kailangang i-suspend ang K to 12],” he said.

He said Luistro appears to be uninformed about public schools’ difficulty in preparing for the K to 12 program because he doesn’t go around the country to check on them.

The senator said he will propose to Aquino in their next meeting the designation of a neutral adviser who would make the rounds of public schools to assess their preparation for implementing the program.

Also, he said the President would be able to see DepEd’s shortcomings just by a simple check on schools in Metro Manila.

Since the K-12 program is already legislated, Trillanes said its implementation can only be stopped if the Supreme Court issues a temporary restraining order or if the President orders the DepEd to unilaterally suspend its implementation pending the resolution of problems besetting the public education system.

But, he said, there’s a slim chance Aquino would take the latter option because “he’s being fed with the wrong information.”

“Ako mismo umikot bago tumindig dito sa issue na ito and I can say na ni isang paaralan, walang kumpletong laboratory  man lang para sa vocational courses,” he said.

Trillanes, along with Magdalo party-list Reps. Francisco Ashley Acedillo and Gary Alejano, asked the Supreme Court last week to stop the K to 12 program’s implementation, saying RA 10533 violated the Constitution.

Exception to the rule

While he acknowleged that the quality of the Philippine education has deteriorated over the years, he said Filipinos remain globally competitive, and that the K to 12 program is not needed.

“Hindi totoong napag-iiwanan na tayo ng ibang bansa in terms of education. Bakit ang mga OFW (overseas Filipino workers) natin pinag-aagawan abroad kung hindi sila magagaling at matatalino?

"Hindi totoo ‘yung sinasabi nilang hinahanap sa ibang bansa yung dapat 12 years [of basic education] ang natapos. Yung iilang propesyon na ganoon ang hinahanap ay exception to the rule,” he said.

Instead of adding two more years to the Philippine basic education system, Trillanes said DepEd should address problems in the existing curriculum.

He noted that many public schools are no longer conducive to learning because as much as 50 students are cramped in one classroom, sharing books and desks, and that a big part of a teacher’s time is spent managing a large class than teaching.

Amid criticisms, the DepEd has remained convinced that the country is prepared for the implementation of K to 12 program.

"The national government is on track in its preparations for the implementation of the K to 12 program, which includes Senior High School," the department said in a statement last Wednesday. — LBG, GMA News