Tacloban student on PNoy’s education legacy: A turn for the worse

Uprooted from her community in Tacloban City due to Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in November 2013, Princess Balaba and her family relocated to Manila to rebuild their lives put on hold by a devastating storm.

As part of her journey to normalcy, Balaba, 17, went back to school at the Batasan Hills National High School, one of the most populated public schools in Quezon City.

Little did Balaba know that she would have to face yet another battle, this time in fighting for a better public education system.

Several days into the school year, Balaba joined protest actions against the administration of outgoing President Benigno Aquino III, which she and her colleagues at the League of Filipino Students accused of implementing anti-student policies such as yearly tuition increases and not doing enough to address shortages in facilities, equipment, textbooks, and teachers.

"Sa buong Aquino regime, ang kalagayan ng mga kabataan mas lalong humirap. Siksikan sa klase, kulang sa mga pasilidad, kulang sa teachers, at sa usapin ng mga kagamitan na kakailanganin namin. Kami lahat ang nagbabayad nun," she told GMA News Online.

And with the implementation of the K-12 program, which adds two years to the previous 10-year basic education cycle, these problems became worse, said Balaba, an incoming Grade 11 student.

"Magdadalawang linggo na ang pasukan pero ang mga building na gagamitin ng Grade 11 hindi pa rin tapos. Hanggang ngayon, wala pa rin ang mga workbook na gagamitin, kahit yung mga mas nakakababang level wala pa rin workbooks na gagamitin," she said.

Invested more on education

Education Secretary Armin Luistro disputed this claim, saying at least 11,000 schools nationwide are senior high school-ready.

Of the number, however, only 6, 002 are public schools and 5,031 are private schools, private and public universities and colleges, and technical vocational schools.

Over a million students form the first batch of Grade 11 students.

"I believe this is the boldest move the department has ever undertaken –to open simultaneously 11,000 senior high schools that offer academic, technical vocational, arts and design and sports options for our students to choose from,” Luistro said in a statement on June 14.

He added that the Aquino administration invested heavily in education, marked by a 148 percent increase in the education budget from 2009 to 2016.

“The Aquino government sees investments in education as the game changer of the future, thus, there has been a sustained and unprecedented growth in the education budget from P174.5 billion in 2009 to P433.5 billion in 2016,” Luistro said.

It, however, remains unclear if the Philippines, under Aquino, has met the recommendation of the United Nations for countries to allot at least 6 percent of the gross domestic product for education.

Economic burden

The Kabataan party-list, which has been fighting the implementation of the K-12 program, said that it is an additional economic burden to poorer families.

“Even before its implementation, we have stood against the K-12 program. We only see it as an additional economic burden that ordinary Filipinos simply cannot bear. Moreover, it’s primarily aimed at addressing the capitalists’ demand for cheap labor. We do not see a bright future for the youth under K-12,” incoming Kabataan partylist Rep. Sarah Elago said.

Elago challenged Luistro to release the actual data on Grade 11 enrollees as "reports on the ground" allegedly showed otherwise.

“We challenge Secretary Luistro to release the actual data supporting his claim because there’s a possibility that these numbers are bloated to hide the very low enrollment rate,"  she said.

The DepEd has convinced President-elect Rodrigo Duterte support the K-12 program.

The Kabataan party-list group is now asking to the incoming Duterte administration to at least let the Grade 10 completers graduate and enter college.

Like Balaba, the party-list group hopes that Duterte will personally talk to youth and student leaders and hear their side on the K-12 program.

“We are more than willing to go to Davao and talk to Duterte, if that’s the only way to make him change his mind,” Elago said. —ALG, GMA News