University of Makati produces PHL’s first batch of K-12 graduates

It's a warm Tuesday afternoon, and the University of Makati (UMak) Oval is teeming with over 3,000 students clad in their P.E. uniforms. They are busy rehearsing for Saturday’s historic event—the commencement exercises for the country’s first batch of graduates of the Senior High School Program (SHSP) at an institution-wide level and not just a pilot scale.
 

The program came about in 2010, when the Department of Education (DepEd) saw the need to reform the country’s 10-year basic education (BE) program. It turned out that the Philippines was the sole country in Asia, and among the only three countries in the world (the other two are in Africa), still clinging to this system—six years of elementary and four years of high school.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the 10-year BE curriculum was too congested and lacked specialization, resulting in students’ poor performance in national and international exams—especially in Math and Science.

The curriculum also failed to prepare students mentally and emotionally for college, resulting in high dropout rates. And in the case of some Filipino professionals working abroad, a few employers did not recognize the BE curriculum, or did not compensate Filipinos in the same way as professionals of other nationalities, because the latter was usually equipped with 12 years of basic education.

Thus, the department came up with the basic education curriculum reform program dubbed as K to 12, or the kindergarten plus grades 1-12.

Aside from the mandatory implementation of kindergarten, K to 12 added two more years in high school. Thus, a student will be required to undergo kindergarten, six years of elementary (Grades 1-6), four years of junior high school (Grades 7-10) and two years of senior high school (Grades 11-12).

The DepEd began by launching universal kindergarten in school year 2011-2012, followed by a new curriculum for Grade 7 in school year 2012-2013. School year 2016-2017 will mark the formal implementation of the Grade 11 curriculum, to be followed by the Grade 12 curriculum in school year 2017-2018.

But one school seems to be ahead of the curve. At 4 p.m. on April 12, Saturday, 3,246 Grade 12 students of UMak will receive their Senior High School Program (SHSP) diplomas, two years ahead of SHSP’s nationwide mandatory implementation.

Conception

UMak vice president for academic affairs Dalisay Brawner told GMA News Online that implementing the SHSP was both a daunting and an exciting experience, with the university given only six months to prepare before they offered the Grade 11 curriculum in SY 2012-2013.

“Sometime in December 2011, Bro. Luistro met with UMak president Tomas B. Lopez Jr... Bro. Luistro offered the idea to President Lopez to be part of the Senior High School Modeling Program that was supposed to take place in June 2012,” Brawner recounted.

“So, right away, the question raised by the President was, ‘Is there a curriculum?’ The response of Bro. Luistro was, ‘There is none—both for Grade 11 and 12.’”

Brawner said that instead of being discouraged, Lopez buckled down to work and immediately arranged a meeting with Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. to pitch the program and ask for logistical and financial support. UMak is a city government-run institution.

“The question raised by the Mayor was, ‘Do you think you’ll have an enrollment of 1,000 (students)?' And the response of the President was, ‘Baka 2,000.’ Lo and behold, we got an enrollment figure of about 5,000,” Brawner said.

“He was not afraid of innovations and he was a believer of the concept of the program. According to him, this educational reform can be the key to unlock the potentials of the 21st century Filipinos,” Brawner said of Lopez, who was out of the country during the interview.

Full-scale, not pilot testing

Of the 33 schools which were originally tapped by DepEd in 2012 to offer the SHSP, UMak was the only one which took the risk of implementing it fully. The other schools opted to pilot-test the program with one or two sections.

“The top management came up with an additional structure, the Higher School ng UMak (HSU). Instead of putting the HSU under the banner of leadership of the College of Education, which we have, another structure was organized just to give emphasis on the implementation of the Senior High School Modeling Program,” Brawner explained.

The creation of HSU—which has its own dean, principal, department heads and faculty members—was fitting, given that 4,998 fresh high school graduates turned up for the April to May 2012 enrollment for Grade 11. This prompted HSU to open 87 sections (with 40-50 students per section).

Brawner said 80 percent of the enrollees were Makati residents, with the remaining 20 percent coming from sister cities.

HSU Dean Bernardo Ombrog said the secret behind the staggeringly high turnout of enrollees was their proactive information drive. They visited Makati City high schools and spoke with students and held forums in barangays. There were even house-to-house visits just to explain to parents the advantages of enrolling their children in Senior High School.

“We were able to convince the parents because of our tagline: Pagka-graduate, trabaho agad... In fact, they accompanied their children to enroll,” Ombrog said.

And to ensure full implementation of the SHSP, the UMak also declared a moratorium in accepting first year college students in the last two years (SY 2012-2013 and SY 2013-2014).

“Our usual number of enrollees for first year college students totaled around 5,000, so there was no difference in terms of figures, because while we did not accept first year college students, the university was able to fill up that 5,000 through Grade 11,” Brawner said.

Currently, the HSU has 4,700 Grade 11 students graduating from SHSP next school year.

Local setting

The HSU identified three main objectives for its SHSP:

1. To enhance learning in core subjects English, Filipino, Math, and Science.
2. To give a variety of course options aligned with student’s area of interests for specialization and potential work opportunities; and
3. Promote values formation and citizenship.

To achieve the first objective, they created a curriculum team that reviewed existing general college courses in English, Filipino, Math and Science and tailored them to suit the Grades 11 and 12 programs.

To achieve the third objective, Brawner said the curriculum team also developed instructional materials and syllabi where social science was embedded in the general subjects of English, Filipino, Math, Science and P.E. The goal was to promote concepts such as nationalism, Filipino culture, and Filipino legacies.

“Our President said social science is the thought, but it also has to be actualized, it has to be practiced,” Brawner said.

Thus, for Math subjects for example, entrepreneurial and investment principles of successful businessmen are taught. For English or Filipino, topics about the legacies of some Filipino icons like Manny Pacquio, Lea Salonga, and Kenneth Cobonpue can be explored by the students through essays. In culinary arts, history and evolution of Filipino cuisine is taught.

“So, parang mas may Filipino flavor yung pagtuturo natin. Mas nakaka-relate yung students kasi Philippine setting,” Brawner said.

‘Patikim’ curriculum

Brawner pointed out that the most common dilemma of graduates of the current four-year high school program is that they do not yet have a clear understanding of their talents and interests, which can make choosing a college course confusing.

“Karamihan sa mga high school graduates immature pa, hindi alam kung ano ba talaga ang gusto nila, ang interest nila, so kahit anong course na lang ang kukunin sa college. Later on, mare-realize, hindi pala niya gusto. So shift na naman to another course. At yung iba, kapag hindi maka-cope, they drop out from college,” Brawner said.

And this is what the second objective of the SHSP addresses. Aside from the academic subjects, the HSU boasts of more than 60 elective courses falling under 17 clusters.

There are courses that adhere to the needs of the locality or community such as Basic Rescue, Disaster Preparedness, Basic First Aid, and Ecology and Public Governance.

Other courses caters to students who are more inclined to the arts, such as Freehand Drawing, Studio Art, Cartooning, Color and Design, Creative Writing, Drama and Basic Acting, and Basic Video Presentation, among others.

Based on the flow of HSU’s Senior High School Program, Grade 11 students will be required to enroll in one elective course per grading period on top of the core subjects of English, Filipino, Math, Science and P.E. Just like in a regular high school, the SHSP implements four grading periods, with each grading period lasting roughly 90 days or three months.

“Now, why is it called ‘patikim’? Because the student can opt to move from one elective to the other, provided that the student finishes a particular grading period. We don’t allow the student to hop from one elective to the other in the middle of the grading period. Why? Because the competency will not be fully developed if we allow that,” Brawner explained.

“When they reach Grade 12, they’re supposed to select an area of specialization from the electives that they have taken from when they were in Grade 11. And whatever specialization that they have selected or opted, then, this will now be their area of concentration when they go out for their on-the-job training (OJT), which will start on the second semester or on the third and fourth grading period of Grade 12,” Brawner said.

And if you add the regular counseling given Grades 11 and 12 students, the “patikim” system becomes the most vital aspect of the SHSP, in terms of helping the students discover themselves.

More mature

“With the SHSP, I believe that it will also reduce dropout rates in college kasi by that time, they have become more mature, they are more focused on what they would like to do with their lives,” Brawner said.

Ombrog said about 85 percent of their students who are set to graduate on Saturday are already NCII passers, which means that they can start working if they decide not to pursue college.

The remaining students, who took up non-TESDA regulated courses, were given certifications by the association or agencies affiliated by the particular elective they took up.

“Like for example, from the elective course Sign Language, they (students) were certified by the Philippine National Association of Sign Language Interpreters (PNASLI),” Ombrog explained.

Promise of employment

Brawner said the main thrust of their SHSP was to enhance the work skills of their students, given the reality that not all high school graduates have the financial capability to pursue higher education.

“To start with kasi, yung mga estudyante namin here usually come from the disadvantaged. Kaya yung mga pwede nang magtrabaho, nagtratrabaho na talaga sila. So, that’s part of our tagline: From high school to higher school, trabaho agad,” Brawner said.

“No one has ever said that you need a four-year degree to be able to work. That’s why the Grades 11 and 12 program is really a shot in the arm," she said.

"And if they want to get back later and pursue their college degrees, they can. So the base becomes wide for the workforce,” she said.

And to equip their students with skills they can apply when they enter the workforce, the HSU partnered with the business sector in developing the school’s courses as well as in teaching them.

Brawner said the UMak currently has partnerships with about 800 private companies and industries, and about 8,000 linkages and partnerships with Makati barangay business councils.

“Our faculty members here are not only academicians, but we also tapped practitioners, people in the field,” Brawner said.

“They also form part of the development of our courses. Kaya nga kakaiba ang mga courses namin because the managers of a particular company are also involved in the development of our program... para walang mismatch. So, that’s the reason why meron kaming 100 percent employability,” Ombrog pointed out.

Spreading the knowledge

With the government’s upcoming implementation of the Grade 11 curriculum in 2016, Brawner advised higher learning institutions (HEIs), “They just have to maintain an open mind about the K-12 program, because I know pretty well that this will be a big help for the country’s national development... Once, management or leadership is sold to it, then, 50 percent of the problem is already solved.”

Ombrog meanwhile, said UMak is ready to share their experience in implementing the SHSP.

“In fact, we were given a directive by the President (Lopez) to open all the possibilities for them (other schools) to implement the Senior High School. Lahat ng materyales, okay lang, open kami to share with them,” Ombrog said.

He said they have received around 600 visitors since they started implementing the program.

Brawner said more schools are now planning to implement SHSP in the coming school year.

“Baka 152 schools yung madadagdag. They were given a deadline (by DepEd) of until April 15 to file their intention to offer Senior High School Program,” she said.

And to other schools still apprehensive about the K to 12, Brawner had this to say: “We should have done this much earlier! We encourage them to join the crusade!” — DVM/VC/YA, GMA News