Gatchalian files reso seeking K-12 review

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian is seeking a Senate inquiry on the implementation of the K to 12 program to identify the issues in the basic education system and to address skills mismatch among senior high school graduates.

"Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Senate of the Philippines, to direct the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the status of the implementation of the K to 12 Law for the purpose of crafting policy recommendations and initiating complementary and amendatory legislation to further strengthen the law and ensure its effective and efficient integration into the Philippine basic education system to provide quality education and achieve global competitiveness," the resolution read.

In his resolution, Gatchalian explained that the implementation of the K to 12 Law must be sustained to fully attain its benefits. The pressing issues, however, should be addressed so it would not compromise the effectiveness of the program.

The lawmaker, who will remain as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture in the 19th Congress, cited several reports that "depict that our learners are still lagging in terms of actual learning."

Among the studies that he mentioned was the National Achievement Test for the School Year 2017 to 2018, which showed that Grades 6 and 10 learners only scored 37 and 45 out of 100 items, respectively. He said this displays low proficiency in their grasp of key subject areas.

Similar results were also observed for Grade 12 learners based on the Department of Education's Basic Education Exit Assessment taken in the same school year.

Gatchalian also highlighted in his resolution that Filipino learners performed "consistently low" in several global standardized assesesments measuring students' competency.

Based on the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) result released on December 3, 2019, the Philippines scored 353 in Mathematics, 357 in Science, and 340 in Reading.

These are all below the average of participating Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, he said.

The senator also included in the resolution the World Bank report released in July 2021 that showed the estimates of the country's "learning poverty." The term refers to the share of 10-year-old learners who cannot read and understand a simple story.

According to WB October 2019 estimate, learning poverty in the Philippines stood at 69.5%, but the revised estimates showed that it has increased to 90.5% which implies that 9 in every 10 Filipino learners cannot read and understand a simple story.

The resolution also cited research and criticisms on the K to 12's spiral progression approach in teaching the basic education subjects, which found that this method might have contributed to the country's poor performance in both domestic and international education assessments.

Gatchalian also seeks to inquire on the effectiveness of the K to 12 Law's provision on the use of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE).

Further, the lawmaker also sought a Senate probe to address the skills mismatch among the senior high school students, emphasizing that one of the "selling points" of the K to 12 program is employability of its graduates.

He cited a survey on hiring preferences conducted by Jobstreet.com in February 2018 that showed that 41% were indefinite about hiring SHS graduates, 35% were not willing to hire, and only 24% said that they were willing to hire.

"It is equally important to address the skills mismatch challenge because for countries, it can increase unemployment, and affect competitiveness and attractiveness to investors, which means lost opportunities on the pathway to productive transformation and job creation," Gatchalian said in his resolution.

In June, Vice President Sara Duterte said she was directed by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to conduct a review on the implementation of the K to 12 program.

Apart from her duties as vice president, Duterte also sits as the DepEd secretary.  —KBK, GMA News