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Nationalist Critique of the K to 12 (K+12/K-12)

Program: Issues, Implications, and Alternatives1

David Michael M. San Juan

Filipino Department, De La Salle University-Manila

~~~

“Go not gently into night/Rage against the dying of the light!...

Rage until the lightning strikes!”

- from the song “Rage” by The Jerks (a Filipino band)2

The K to 12 scheme is now official policy after the passage of House Bill 6643 or

“AN ACT ENHANCING THE PHILIPPINE BASIC EDUCATION SYSTEM BY

STRENGTHENING ITS CURRICULUM AND INCREASING THE NUMBER OF YEARS

FOR BASIC EDUCATION, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER

PURPOSES” and the corresponding measure in the Upper House (Senate Bill 3286).

Under this program, a year of kindergarten is deemed compulsory (as the government

has already established kindergarten schools that charge no tuition), and the former 10-

year basic education cycle would become 12 years, following what K to 12 advocates

have labeled as the “global standard.” Aside from Grades 1 to 6 and four years of junior

high school (Grades 7 to 10), a student in the Philippines need to complete two years of

senior high school or junior college (Grades 11 at 12) before he gets to enroll in the

tertiary or university level. Generally, pro-K to 12 advocates boast that this scheme is a

step to make the Philippine education at par with global standards. Currently, Djibouti

1Author’s own DRAFT translation of a paper presented last December 2012; this draft is very crude and still unedited but, for the purpose of understanding why Filipino nationalists are opposing the Aquino administration’s K to 12 scheme, this material will be helpful; revised version to be released soon; this version omitted some paragraphs from the Filipino original available at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/115985721/Nasyunalistang-Pagsipat-Sa-K-to-12-Mga-Isyu-Implikasyon-at-Alternatibo. The original paper in Filipino was presented in the 2012-2013 Lecture Series of the Filipino Department of De La Salle University (DLSU)-Manila. The 2012-2013 Lecture Series was named after Dr. Magdalena C. Sayas, a former head of the Filipino Department of DLSU-Manila.

2Some parts of this song’s lyrics were influenced by a famous poem written by Dylan Thomas.

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and Angola are the last two countries in the world that still stick with a 10-year basic

education/pre-university education cycle. Nevertheless, if official K to 12 documents will

be comprehensively analyzed, it would be clear that this program has a non-nationalist

agenda. This is a big issue because the Philippine Constitution through Article XIV,

Section 2.1 and 3.2 emphasizes that nationalism is one of the primary elements of

Philippine education. If it is proven that the K to 12 is non-nationalist, it will be justified to

assert its scrapping, and the creation of an alternative progressive and nationalist

education system.

Conceptual and Theoretical Bases: Nationalism and Dependency Theory in the

Economy, Politics, and Education

Conceptually, the ideas of nationalist thinkers and the Dependency Theorists can

be used to critique the K to 12 that the PDP supports as reform initiative aligned with the

current regime’s development goals. The contribution of the national hero Dr. Jose

Protacio Rizal on the development of nationalist thinking in the Philippines was very

significant. He exposed the abuses of Spanish colonialism through his novels “Noli Me

Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo.” Aside from this, he also expressed some ideas on

developing a genuinely Filipino education and culture.

In Chapter 15 of “El Filibusterismo3,” Rizal clarified his stance on the true worth of

education and life. In the said chapter, Mister Pasta (a careerist lawyer who doesn’t

care about his country’s welfare because he’s living a good life anyway), and Isagani

(leader of reformist youth in the novel) had a debate. Mister Pasta gave a bad advice to

Isagani: “You're going to study medicine? Well, confine yourself to learning how to put

on plasters and apply leeches, and don't ever try to improve or impair the condition of

your kind. When you become a licentiate, marry a rich and devout girl, try to make cures

and charge well, shun everything that has any relation to the general state of the

country, attend mass, confession, and communion when the rest do, and you will see

afterwards how you will thank me, and I shall see it, if I am still alive. Always remember

that charity begins at home, for man ought not to seek on earth more than the greatest

3 Quotation from “El Filibusterismo” were lifted from the translation by Charles Derbyshire (1912). Quotes from “Noli Me Tangere” were lifted from the translation by Leon Ma. Guerrero (1961).

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amount of happiness for himself, as Bentham says. If you involve yourself in quixotisms

you will have no career, nor will you get married, nor will you ever amount to anything.

All will abandon you, your own countrymen will be the first to laugh at your simplicity.

Believe me, you will remember me and see that I am right, when you have gray hairs

like myself, gray hairs such as these!" Isagani’s reply mirrors the stance of nationalist

citizens who believe that no man is an island: “When I have gray hairs like those, sir,

and turn my gaze back over my past and see that I have worked only for myself, without

having done what I plainly could and should have done for the country that has given

me everything, for the citizens that have helped me to live--then, sir, every gray hair will

be a thorn, and instead of rejoicing, they will shame me!”

In Chapter 7 of “El Filibusterismo,” Basilio and Simoun had a vigorous exchange

of ideas. Basilio (Sisa’s son who’s now a student of medicine) and his fellow students

assert that the indios need to learn the Spanish language so that they could be of equal

stature as Spanish citizens. Simoun’s nationalist stance is clear on this regard “You are

letting yourselves be deceived by big words and never go to the bottom of things to

examine the results in their final analysis. Spanish will never be the general language of

the country, the people will never talk it, because the conceptions of their brains and the

feelings of their hearts cannot be expressed in that language—each people has its own

tongue, as it has its own way of thinking! What are you going to do with Castilian, the

few of you who will speak it? Kill off your own originality, subordinate your thoughts to

other brains, and instead of freeing yourselves, make yourselves slaves indeed!...you

are trying to despoil yourselves of your own nationality!” One only had to use “English”

instead of “Spanish” and “Castilian” in the abovementiond quotation and Simoun’s

exhortation to Basilio would be clearer and more significant in the current context.

Simoun issued a reminded too regarding how to jumpstart the sowing of the

seeds of nationalism to the hearts of the people, especially to the youth: “One and all

you forget that while a people preserves its language, it preserves the marks of its

liberty, as a man preserves his independence while he holds to his own way of thinking.

Language is the thought of the peoples.” As long as the country’s very tongue is in

chains, the country cannot free itself from foreign economic dominance. Simoun further

noted the relationship between the development of a unique national identity and

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national progress: “…Distinguish yourselves then by revealing yourselves in your own

character, try to lay the foundations of the Philippine fatherland! Do they deny you

hope? Good! Don’t depend on them, depend upon yourselves and work!...cultivate your

own (language), extend it, preserve to the people their own way of thinking, and instead

of aspiring to be a province, aspire to be a nation! Instead of subordinate thoughts, think

independently, to the end that neither by right, nor custom, nor language, the Spaniard

can be considered the master here, nor even be looked upon as a part of the country,

but ever as an invader, a foreigner, and sooner or later you will have your liberty!...”

In Chapter 20 of “Noli Me Tangere,” one young character expressed Rizal’s ideas

on meaningful entertainment whichis a vital element of nationalist education, more

especially that the use of media is now part of the curriculum: “My plan, gentleman can

be reduced to this: we must think up new entertainments that are out of the common

run....” Instead of ordinary Westernized moro-moro about the “kings of Bohemia and

Granada...princesses who go into battle...or else wandering forlorn in mountain and vale

as if under the spell of a sorcerer,” the young character would want indigenous stories –

like a play about Maria Makiling – to be presented in public. For Rizal, entertainment

must mirror indigenous culture: “Would it not be a thousand times better to present a

picture of our own customs and traditions, so that we may thus understand and correct

our vices and defects, and extol our virtues?”

In general, as per Rizal’s perspective, instead of global standards, native culture

and the welfare of the Filipino people form the solid foundations of a truly Filipino

education. Rizal’s perspective is not unexpectedly reflective of the perspectives of

revolutionaries like Emilio Jacinto and Andres Bonifacio who are both leaders of the

Katipunan. The “Kartilya ng Katipunan4” written by Emilio Jacinto emphasizes that: “A

person's worth is not measured by his/her station in life, neither by the height of his

nose nor the fairness of skin, and certainly not by whether he is a priest claiming to be

God's deputy. Even if he is a tribesman/tribeswoman from the hills and speaks only

his/her own tongue, a person is honorable if he/she possesses a good character, is true

4 The transcription of the “Kartilya ng Katipunan” was “created by Kamalaysayan on July 1992 for Katipunan, Sandaan!” and the translation was made by Paula Carolina Santos-Malay according to http://kartilya-katipunan.blogspot.com/

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to his/her word, has fine perceptions and is loyal to his/her native land.” Jacinto further

said that “When these teachings shall have been propagated and the glorious sun of

freedom begins to shine on these poor islands to enlighten a united race and people,

then all the loves lost, all the struggle and sacrifices shall not have been in vain.”

Plainly, Jacinto asserts that the true honor of a citizen is measured by his concern for

his motherland. Certainly, the “propagation of these teachings” can be only achieved

through a nationalist education system that values the sacrifices of those who have

fought for the country’s freedom.

In the poem “Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa” (Love for the Motherland), Andres

Bonifacio, clearly mentioned what must be emphasized by the education system:

“Nothing dear to a person with a pure heart/

is denied to the country that gave him birth:/blood, wealth, knowledge, sacrifices,

E'en if life itself ends.”5 As per Bonifacio’s perspective, everything that one values in

life– wisdom, education – should be offered to the country. Instead of dependence on

foreigners through attracting foreign investors Bonifacio in his essay/editorial “Ang

Dapat Mabatid ng Mga Tagalog” (“What Must Be Known By All Citizens”) emphasized

that “...we must strive to depend on ourselves and not wait for others to provide us

livelihood. Common sense dictates that we should unite in mind and in heart so that we

could find the strength to seek remedy to the prevailing evil in our Nation.” Even before

Renato Constantino condemned the “miseducation of the Filipino,” Bonifacio already

clarified what must be done to resolve the miseducation of citizens who think like

slaves: “...it’s about time to express that we have our own grievances, our dignitym our

shame, and our emphathy for each other. This is a time for us to start spreading the

great idea that would lift the thick veil that blinds our minds; it’s about time that our

citizens realize what’s the root cause of their miseries.” The root cause of the citizens’

miseries that Bonifacio mentioned is nothing but colonialism, which in our time

metamorphosed into a form of neocolonialism in politics, economy, and culture (all the

more in education).

5 Teodoro Agoncillo’s translation from http://kasaysayan-kkk.info/docs.ab.pagibig.htm

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It is not surprising that on October 19, a few months after independence was

declared at Kawit, Cavite, the revolutionary government led by Emilio Aguinaldo issued

a decree establishing the Universidad Literaria de Filipinas (the first university

established by Filipinos). This is congruent to the goal of the Katipunan – as expressed

by Bonifacio – “to start spreading the great idea that would lift the thick veil that blinds

our minds...” Revolutionaries know that the country’s independence can be completely

safeguarded only through establishing a genuinely pro-Filipino education, away from the

education offered by universities established and managed by Spanish friars then.

Beyond Dr. Jose Rizal and other nationalists of the latter part of 1800s, among

the ranks of contemporary Filipino nationalists, Prof. Renato Constantino’s writings are

very popular. Constantino is an activist, researcher, historian and diplomat, victimized

by Martial Law imposed by the Marcos dictatorship. He was put under house arrest

because of his radical articles that provide a critical and nationalist perspective on the

fields of the economy, politics and education. Constantino’s pamphlet “The

Miseducation of The Filipino” is now staple reading in schools. At the outset, the said

pamphlet clearly mentions the importance of a nationalist education that would secure

political and economic independence for a former colony like the Philippines: “Education

is a vital weapon of a people striving for economic emancipation, political independence

and cultural renaissance.” Constantino’s analysis of the Philippine education system’s

analysi is still valid: “...no comprehensive educational programme has been advanced

as a corollary to the programmes for political and economic emancipation. This is a

tragic situation because the nationalist movement is crippled at the outset by a citizenry

that is ignorant of our basic ills and is apathetic to our national welfare.” Constantino

elaborated on another primary reason behind the existence of colonial/colonized

mentality among Filipinos then and now: “The first and perhaps the master stroke in the

plan to use education as an instrument of colonial policy was the decision to use

English as the medium of instruction. English became the wedge that separated the

Filipinos from their past and later to separate educated Filipinos from the masses of

their countrymen. English introduced the Filipinos to a strange, new world. With

American textbooks, Filipinos started learning not only a new language but also a new

way of life, alien to their traditions and yet a caricature of their model. This was the

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beginning of their education. At the same time, it was the beginning of their mis-

education, for they learned no longer as Filipinos but as colonials.” This echoes

Simoun’s pronouncements in Chapter 7 of “El Filibusterismo.”

Constantino outlined the role of those who promote nationalist education and

condemned those who say only global standards matter: “What then are the nationalist

tasks for Philippine education? Education must both be seen not as an acquisition of

information but as the making of man so that he may function most effectively and and

usefully within his own society. Therefore, education cannot be divorced from the

society of a definite country at a definite time. It is a fallacy to think that educational

goals should be the same everywhere and that therefore what goes into the making of a

well-educated American is the same as what should go into the making of the well-

educated Filipino. This would be true only if the two societies were at the same political,

cultural, and economic level and had the same political, cultural and economic goals.

But what happened in this country? Not only do we imitate Western education, we have

patterned our education after the most technologically advanced western nations. The

gap between the two societies is very large. In fact, they are two entirely different

societies with different goals.”

Hence, in accordance with Constantino’s and other nationalists’ perspective, an

education system that does not take into consideration the people’s welfare and

progress is tehcnically useless. In more precise words: an education that is not

nationalist is useless even if it follows the “global standards.” The last paragraphs of

Constantino’s pamphlet would be enough to summarize his thoughts in relation to the

current discussion: “The education of the Filipino must be a Filipino education. It must

be based on the needs of the nation and the goals of the nation. The object is not

merely to produce men and women who can read and write or who can add and

subtract. The primary object is to produce a citizenry that appreciates and is conscious

of its nationhood and has national goals for the betterment of the community, and not an

anarchic mass of people who know how to take care of themselves only.

Our students hear of Rizal and Bonifacio but are their teachings related to our

present problems or do they merely learn of anecdotes and incidents that prove

interesting to the child's imagination? We have learned to use American criteria for our

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problems and we look at our prehistory and our past with the eyes of a visitor. A lot of

information is learned but attitudes are not developed. The proper regards for things

Philippine, the selfish concern over the national fate --these are not at all imbedded in

the consciousness of students. Children and adolescents go to school to get a

certificate or diploma. They try to learn facts but the patriotic attitude is not acquired

because of too much emphasis on forms. What should be the basic objective of

education in the Philippines? Is it merely to produce men and women who can read and

write? If this is the only purpose, then education is directionless. Education should first

of all assure national survival. No amount of economic and political policy can be

successful if the educational programme does not imbue prospective citizens with the

proper attitudes that will ensure the implementation of these goals and policies.

Philippine educational policies should be geared to the making of Filipinos. These

policies should see to it that schools produce men and women with minds and attitudes

that are attuned to the needs of the country.

Under previous colonial regimes, education saw to it that the Filipino mind was

subservient to that of the master. The foreign overlords were esteemed. We were not

taught to view them objectively, seeing their virtues as well as their faults. This led out

citizens to form a distorted opinion of the foreign masters and also of themselves. We

must now think of ourselves, of our salvation, of our future. And unless we prepare the

minds of the young for this endeavor, we shall always be a pathetic people with no

definite goals and no assurance of preservation.”

In general, Constantino can be considered as an ally of those who believe in the

effectiveness and truthfulness of the Teoría de la Dependencia/Dependency Theory. In

past decades, Teoría de la Dependencia/Dependency Theory became popular in Latin

America and other continents in the Third World. Dependency Theorists believe that

industrialized countries exploit poor countries through economic neocolonialism.

In a speech delivered on March 25, 1964 (“On Development”) at the plenary

session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Dr.

Ernesto “Che” Guevara (a physician, economist and popular guerilla leader who helped

Fidel Castro in ousting Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorship) summarized the Dependency

Theory critique of the global status quo: "The inflow of capital from the developed

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countries is the prerequisite for the establishment of economic dependence. This inflow

takes various forms: loans granted on onerous terms; investments that place a given

country in the power of the investors; almost total technological subordination of the

dependent country to the developed country; control of a country's foreign trade by the

big international monopolies; and in extreme cases, the use of force as an economic

weapon in support of the other forms of exploitation." The relevance of Dependency

Theory in analyzing educational policies will be clearer if the “other forms of exploitation”

that Dr. Guevara mentioned will be scrutinized.

Vincent Ferraro (2008) explained what these other forms of exploitation are in a

chapter entitled "Dependency Theory: An Introduction," (in the book “The Development

Economics Reader,” ed. Giorgio Secondi): “The distinction between underdevelopment

and undevelopment places the poorer countries of the world is a profoundly different

historical context. These countries are not ‘behind’ or ‘catching up’ to the richer

countries of the world. They are not poor because they lagged behind the scientific

transformations or the Enlightenment values of the European states. They are poor

because they were coercively integrated into the European economic system only as

producers of raw materials or to serve as repositories of cheap labor, and were denied

the opportunity to market their resources in any way that competed with dominant

states.”

In accordance with Dependency Theory, The Philippines is currently among the

chief “repositories of cheap labor.” As per the data of the Philippine Overseas

Employment Agency/POEA (2011), there are around 3,500 Pilipino who go abroad each

day to work and become Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). The government brags

about the Philippines’ status as one of the main centers of the Business Processing

Outsourcing (BPO) sector that “robs” North Americans and Europeans jobs so that such

jobs will be “given” to a few Asian countries where citizens are willing to receive a lower

wage rate, relative to what workers in other developed countries receive. Information

Technology-BPO is among the Philippine government’s 10 “priority development areas”

under the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2011-2016. According to a report by

Francis Earl A. Cueto (2012), the Philippines has actually dislodged India as the primary

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destination of BPO firms. Compared with India’s 300,000 call center agents, the

Philippines had 350,000 in 2011.

Meanwhile, it is very easy to prove that the Philippines is one of the producers of

raw materials that remain poor and non-industrialized because of the impositions of

leaders who are in cahoots with big foreign capitalists. From the Marcos regime to the

second Aquino administration, attracting foreign investors has been the Philippine

government’s mantra. It is worth remembering that one the true reasons behind the

declaration of Martial law in 1972 was the Marcos dictatorship’s accelerated

implementation of pro-foreign policies in the economy and blockage of nationalist

advocacies of some members of the 1972 Constitutional Convention noong 1972

(Lichauco, 1988 and Pimentel, 2006). Though the 1987 Constitution that was ratified

under the first Aquino administration contains some nationalist provisions, President

Cory did not lift a finger to reverse the pro-foreign policies of the Marcos dictatorship.

For example, she maintained and never shelved out the automatic debt appropriation

that the Marcos dictatorship imposed. This policy is the main cause of the government’s

insufficient budget for social services such as health and education. Meanwhile, the

Ramos, Estrada and Macapagal-Arroyo administrations are notorious for their attempts

to remove the patriotic economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution (like the prohibition

of 100% foreign ownership of industries in the Philippines and a ban on foreign

ownership of land) through various Charter Change (Cha-Cha) campaigns. House

Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte and Senate President Juan “Johnny” Ponce Enrile

– both allies of the second Aquino administration – also push for the same type of Cha-

Cha. Even the second Aquino administration’s Philippine Development Plan (PDP)

2011-2016 is replete of pro-foreign policies too, according to a critique made by Ibon

Databank.

In general, contemporary administrations use the policy of attracting foreign

investment as a trick to prevent the spread of nationalist consciousness that emphasize

self-reliance in the economic aspect (self-dependence, as mentioned by Simoun in

Chapter 7 of “El Filibusterismo”) which can be achieved through national/nationalist

industrialization coupled with genuine land reform and agricultural modernization. As a

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result, the Philippines remains a mere producer-supplier-exporter of raw materials and

human resources (OFWs).

K to 12: Diamond Chains and Life-long Dependency

If the real agenda of K to 12 in the Philippines will be scrutinized, it can be

easily proven that it will only expand and worsen the country’s dependence on

developed countries, through the maintenance of the labor export policy.

The document “DISCUSSION PAPER ON THE ENHANCED K+12 BASIC

EDUCATION PROGRAM” released by the Department of Education (DepEd) on

Oktubre 5, 2010, the 12-page primer “The K to 12 Program” (October 30, 2012)

published in the Republic of the Philippines online Official Gazette, and the 73-page “K

TO 12 TOOLKIT: Reference Guide for Teacher Educators, School Administrators, and

Teachers (2012)” released by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization

Regional Center for Educational Innovation and Technology (SEAMEO-INNOTECH)

with the imprimatur of the Department of Education.

DepEd’s “Discussion Paper” notes one of the main reason behind the

implementation of the K to 12 (emphasis is theirs): “The short duration of the basic

education program also puts the millions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs),

especially the professionals, and those who intend to study abroad at a disadvantage.

Our graduates are not automatically recognized as professionals abroad. Filipinos face

mutual recognition problem in other countries that view the 10-year education program

as insufficient. The Philippines is the only country in Asia and among the three

remaining countries in the world that has a 10-year basic education program. The

Washington Accordiv prescribes 12-year basic education as an entry to recognition of

engineering professionals. The Bologna Accord requires 12 years of education for

university admission and practice of profession in European countries.” (p. 4)

Following “global standards,” catering to the needs of foreigners is the

expressed reason of promoting K to 12 according to p.8 of DepEd’s “Discussion Paper”

that seems to echo what was mentioned in p.4 (emphasis is theirs): “Graduates could

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now be recognized abroad. Filipino graduates, e.g. engineers, architects, doctors, etc.,

could now be recognized as professionals in other countries. Those who intend to study

abroad will meet the entrance requirements of foreign schools. The Philippine education

system will be at par with international standards. K+12 will facilitate mutual recognition

of Filipino graduates and professionals following the Washington Accord and the

Bologna Accord.”

In the primer available at the Official Gazette of the republic, three

answers were given to the question “Why are we implementing 12 years of Basic

Education and not 11 years?” on page 7: “A 12-year program is found to be the

adequate period for learning under basic education. It is also a standard for recognition

of students and/or professionals abroad (i.e., the Bologna Process for the European

Union and the Washington Accord for the United States). Other countries like Singapore

have 11 years of compulsory education, but have 12 to 14 years of pre-university

education depending on the track. The Philippines is the last country in Asia and one of

only three countries worldwide with a 10-year pre-university cycle.”

The content of DepEd’s “Discussion Paper” and the primer in the Official Gazette

merely echo page 6 of the “K to 12 Toolkit” ng SEAMEO-INNOTECH that states that K

to 12 produces benefits “for regional and international recognition and competitiveness”

like the following: “As Filipino students learn better, it is expected that the Philippines

will improve its performance in international academic examinations and gain

international recognition of Filipino professionals. Academic degrees of Filipino

graduates will now be recognized in other countries. The K to 12 curriculum ensures

that studies, diplomas, and degrees of Filipinos are recognized as widely as possible.

Significant changes in the world’s education standards brought by globalization

increased cross-border provision, and continued expansion of education that have

resulted in increased quality assurance of education.”

In the deliberations in Congress with regard to the K to 12 scheme on October

17, 2012, the real agenda of the K to 12 is all the more exposed: turn young Filipinos

into workers for developed countries, instead of molding and training them to serve their

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country. To the question posed by Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raymond Palatino on

courses or career pathways that can be chosen by students in the senior high

school/junior college (Grades 11 at 12), Rep. Rosenda Ann Ocampo of the 6 th District of

Manila gave this reply: “…the identification of the course offering under the K to 12

program is dictated upon the need, and also upon the job markets as they exist.

Definitely, the industrialized and richer countries have an aging population that need to

be cared for, and that is the reason we offer caregiving courses.”

Rep. Palatino asked another question to clarify one of the objectives of K to 12:

“…The Sponsor (Rep. Ocampo) mentioned that industrialized nations need a lot of

workers; maybe, they should educate their people and produce enough number of

graduates for their own needs, but the basic education of the Philippines should serve

the needs of the Filipino people in the Philippines. So, we should be careful before we

introduce some courses or topics which would benefit not our country but more for the

benefit of other countries. This is one of the reasons K to 12 is being criticized because,

apparently, it will equip students with skills for them to find enough work, not in the

country, but to push them out of the country. So, is that one of the objectives of the K to

12, to equip students with skills so that they can work in other countries, Mr. Speaker?”

Rep. Ocampo gave a frank reply that further exposed the true agenda of K to 12,

which is to turn the Philippines into a huge factory of OFWs: “one of the main objectives

of K to 12 is to make our students graduate with employable skills. If the end result is

that our graduates end up getting jobs abroad, who are we to say that aspiring to land a

job abroad is not something that many families in our country today aspire for? If the

end result of K to 12 gives them the skills to land that job, then we are addressing a

need and we are equipping our people, and that, I believe, will ensure a better life for

their families.” In Rep. Thelma Z. Almario (2nd District of Davao Oriental) interpellation

directed to Rep. Ocampo, the latter confirmed that following global standards if one the

main agenda of K to 12. In general, it is clear that the K to 12 scheme won’t turn Filipino

students into patriots like Rizal, Bonifacio, Jacinto, or Constantino. Instead, under K to

12, students are right away encouraged, actually molded, manufactured as workers for

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other countries, instead of helping to strengthen local industries towards national

progress.

Beyond the maintenance of the labor export policy, the K to 12 na is also aimed

at “accelerating” the “manufacture” of workers for foreign business through its implicit

encouragement for students to no longer enroll in college. In page 5 of the primer in the

Official Gazette, pathways from which students may choose after senior high school are

mentioned (emphasis supplied): “...every K to 12 graduate will be ready to go into

different paths – may it be further education, employment, or entrepreneurship.” On

page 5 of the “K to 12 Toolkit” published by SEAMEO-INNOTECH, the mantra of

encouraging poor students not to study college and instead work immediately after

senior high school is all the more direct: “Families can better afford education as the

cost of the additional two years in high school is significantly lower than longer

collegiate or university level.” A former DepEd undersecretary who supports the K to 12,

Dr. Isagani Cruz, had the same idea: “Once the two missing years are added to basic

education, however, there will be time for the system to give students the skills to find

jobs or become entrepreneurs.” In the “briefer” prepared by DepEd (November 2, 2010)

and posted on the online Official Gazette of the republic, the following 8 reasons behind

the K to 12 are enumerated: “give” the poor families an “employable child” in a short

span. DepEd is trying to package K ton 12 as a “minus 2 instead of plus 2” program that

they claim is a “win scenario” for families who are not capable of sending their children

to college. In the government’s view, under the K to 12, it’s only necessary to spend for

2 years of senior high school instead of four years of college, for poor families to have

an “employable child.” According to Nick Tenazas, a consultant of the Asian

Development Bank (ADB): “If a credible high school diploma can be earned at age 186,

students will have another career option aside from college...” A similar objective was

praised too by the World Bank Philippines Quarterly Update (March 2012): “...ensuring

the successful implementation of the K-12 program which shifts the country’s education

system from the current 10 years to 12 years plus kindergarten to bring basic education

at par with world standards, enabling high school graduates to qualify for employment

even without a college degree.”6 Average age of senior high school graduates under the K to 12.

15

In general, tragedy will be the end result of the anti-tertiary education mantra that

the pro-K to 12 elements are propagating. It is baffling that pro-K to 12 advocates seem

not to regard tertiary education as important when it is observable that many developed

countries have high levels of tertiary enrollment, while poor countries have low levels of

enrollment as seen in a graph from p.14 of the World Bank East Asia and Pacific

Regional Report (2012) entitled “Putting Higher Education to Work: Skills and Research

for Growth in East Asia7”:

The K to 12 scheme will certainly maintain and probably worsen the poor’s lack

of access to tertiary education, which has been bad even before the K to 12 expanded

secondary/pre-university education. The data below shows the percentage of the

population in every socio-economic level that finished college. Because K to 12

extended the pre-university years, it is expected that more poor students would no

longer study college and would become “slaves” of foreign corporations forever –

lacking socio-economic mobility, lacking progress lacking professional development. It

is now clear why pro-K to 12 advocates discourage students from entering college: so

7 This report emphasized that no country achieved high levels of income without increasing the number of their college enrollees and graduates.

16

that they will be mired in poverty and remain incapable of lifting themselves out of the

quicksand of wretchedness while the unjust “social pyramid8” dominated by the

moneyed sector of society in the past decades.

8 The existence of the “social pyramid” in the Philippines is clear as per the presentation of Mr . Tomas Africa, former administrator of the National Statistics Office (NSO), entitled “Family Income Distribution in the Philippines, 1985-2009: Essentially the Same.” According to his presentation, the income share of the bottom 50% and the upper 50% of the country’s population from 1961 to 2009 almost did not change.

17

It must be emphasized that developed countries usually have many citizens who

finish college, hence they are able to sustain their economic development as observed

from the two graphs below:

18

The graph below is from the online Public Data Explorer of the United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) 2012. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a holistic

measure of development. A score of 1.0 means perfect human development, and a

score of 0.0 means ho development.

19

In the past school year, the number of Filipinos who enter colleges is increasing

but this is not comparable to the number of those who study and finish college in other

countries. After the implementation of K to 12, the decrease in the number of those who

study college is certain – because of the anti-tertiary education mantra mouthed by pro-

K to 12 elements in the Philippines – and it is also certain that the number of those who

finish college will also decrease, all the more because the K to 12 scheme mentions

nothing about increasing the subsidy for state colleges and universities (SUCs) so as to

rollback the tuition fees in the said schools to which poor students usually enroll. Upon

the decrease in the number of those studying college, the number of Filipino citizens

who are capable of becoming administrators will also decrease, because administrative

positions require high levels of education. As the country’s population soars, it needs

more and more administrators in various fields, hence, in general, the impact of the

decreasing number of college enrollees and graduates on the Philippines is negative.

20

Consciousness in Chains: MTB-MLE and Language and Curricular Issues

Aside from the anti-tertiary education mantra of K to 12 in the Philippines, some

aspects of this program can be likened to chains in the consciousness and tongue of

the peiple – a continuation of the “miseducation” of Filipinos. It must be noted that ALL

official documents on K to 12, including most lectures, trainings, workshops, and

seminars on K to 12 are in English! From the very start, it seems to instantly alienate

and sideline majority of Filipinos who don’t use English for intellectual discourse. It is

interesting to know to whom the government “communicated” when they planned the K

to 12 scheme. AusAid, the aid agency of Australia) bragged in its “Philippines Annual

Program Performance Report 2011” released on July 2012 that “In 2011 Australia

consolidated its reputation with the Philippines Department of Education as a highly

regarded, effective and influential partner in basic education reform, and an important

source of evidence-based advice on technical aspects of implementing the new K to 12

policy.” According to a critique of the K to 12 released by the Alliance of Concerned

Teachers (ACT) on July 2012, the K to 12 curriculum’s “...seven related themes that will

guide the whole Social Science curriculum are directly lifted from the themese formed

by the National Council for Social Studies of the United States. The main references of

the kindergarten curriculum planners are also from the United States:: Copple, Carol

and Bredecamp, Sue. eds. Developmentally Appropriate Practices in Early Childhood

Program: Serving Children from Birth through age Eight., USA: National Association for

the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), 2009.; Marjorie et al. Developmentally

Appropriate Curriculum: Best Practices in Early Childhood Education. USA: Pearson

Education Inc., 2011.”

In the elementary level, the Mother-Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTB-

MLE) isn now being implemented as part and parcel of the K to 12 scheme. It is aimed

at using some mother tongues from Grade 1 to Grade 3 as primary medium of

instruction. The half-baked and misleading MLE-MTB is problematic. One, it mandates

the use of Bahasa Sug, Bikol, Cebuano, Chabacano, Hiligaynon, Iloko, Kapampangan,

Maguindanaoan, Meranao, Pangasinense, Tagalog, and Waray only (though it is said

that 2 more languages will be added this year, and in the coming years, more

21

languages will be utilized). This means more than 90 mother tongues in the Philippines

won’t be used. Secondly, no one has so far explained why the mother tongues will be

used as primary medium of instruction at a time when majority of children are now good

in using Filipino (the national language) as they are very exposed to this language

because of various media. In fact, there’s enough evidence to claim that Filipino is now

the default language if many children in the regions, because of its advances as an

academic field and as a medium of instruction for various subjects. The use of Filipino

as a national language is now very widespread even in the regions hence its use in the

primary level and beyond should be encouraged. Fourthly, the situation of those in

esclusive private schools, especially those in the National Capital Region: they might

claim the English is their mother tongue. The existence of such language gap between

the masses and the elite (which Constantino had tackled) would be maintained and

tolerated by the MTB-MLE. Fifthly, the government has no plan for people who just

emigrated to the regions. For example, what will happen to Tagalog speakers who

came to Davao? Will they be forced to use Cebuano, together with their classmates

who are mostly Cebuano speakers? Or will the government hire a separate teacher who

would teach them in Tagalog? What if only one or two students are in such situation,

and hence it would be impractical to hire a separate teacher for them? This is an

extreme case but in the real world, extreme cases do occur Some students will be

disenfranchised and marginalized because of MTB-MLE, and it will also weaken the use

of Filipino – which is currently (still) strong – at the elementary level. The next two tables

from the “K to 12 Toolkit” published by SEAMEO-INNOTECH are instructive:

22

DeFilipinization in the tertiary level under the K to 12 scheme is worse. No

Filipino subject is mandated in the new General Education Curriculum (GEC) in the

university level, under the K to 12 scheme. Proponents say majority of subjects in the

old GEC will be transferred to senior high school/junior college. The contents of the

Revised General Education Curriculum (RGEC) for the university level based on a

presentation (29 August 2012) by DepEd Assistant Secretary Tonisito M. C. Umali, Esq.

clearly prove that the current curriculum is not nationalist-oriented. All subjects are in

English, and hence English would become the primary medium of instruction still, and

Filipino subjects are all but wiped out.

23

In general, the K to 12 scheme is pro-English because it strengthens the

hegemony of English as primary medium of instruction, all the more, in the higher levels

of education, despite the fact that Filipino is ready to be used as a medium of instruction

at all levels, as proven by the high scores of students in Filipino in the National

Achievement Test, and the increasing number of people who say Tagalog or Filipino is

the language they use at home.

Here’s data9 listing the national mean percentage scores of elementary students

in English and Filipino in the National Achievement Test (NAT):

Performance sa NAT ng mga Estudyante sa Grade 3

School Year English Filipino

2009-2010 61.84 62.595

2010-2011 57.755 63.03

9Mula sa http://netrc.sysportal.net

24

2011-2012 55.825 57.79

Meanwhile, here’s data from the National Statistics Office (2012) highlighting the

increasing number of Filipinos who say Tagalog (the main source of Filipino’s corpus or

vocabularies) is their mother tongue:

25

Under the K to 12 scheme, there’s no provision for any Political Science subject.

In the old GEC, the study of the Philippine Government and Constitution is a

constitutional requirement. Such education system would produce students who would

just go with the flow, individualistic citizens whose only dream is to go abroad . Simoun’s

prophecy has come to pass about a country without identity, a nation of slaves, and the

dreams for the country of Rizal, Jacinto, Bonifacio and Constantino – a free country with

its own consciousness, a country with citizens who actively participate in achieving

progress for their country, a country where citizens live by and implement the maxim

“The nation first, before yourself” – seemed to be out of reach.

K to 12 As A Road to Perdition: Towards A Mountain of Debts

One of the main reasons of some representatives in opposing the K to 12

scheme is the lack of sufficient budget for its implementation. According to Rep.

Almario, the government needs the following amount just to implement the Education

For All (EFA) goals which the Philippines is yet to achieve: 2013 – P334 billion; 2014 –

P344 billion; 2015 – P360 billion; 2016 – P409 billion; and for 2017 – P434 billion. Rep.

Almario believes attaining the EFA goals must be prioritized (which means all school-

26

age children and youth must be enrolled in the elementary and the secondary level)

before the government decides to add two more years to the old 10-year Basic

Education Cycle. Aside from this, according to Senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV, the

K to 12 requires “P150 billion for 152,569 new classrooms, 103,599 more teachers, 95.6

million more books, and 13.2 million more seats.” The DepEd itself has admitted that

the government is yet to provide for all insufficiencies in personnel and resources for

public schools, as observed from the primer available at the online Official Gazette of

the republic:

DepEd’s prediction that deficiencies will be wiped out at the end of 2013 is

somewhat too optimistic, because according to a critique10 published by the Alliance of

Concerned Teachers (ACT) on July 10, 2012, public schools still lack 132,483 teachers,

97,685 classrooms, and 153,709 sanitation facilities for academic year 2012-2013 and

the Philippine government allotted only P239 billion for DepEd, which is equivalent to

only P7/day for every student. The said teachers’ organization further remarked that this

amount is enough only to resolve 27% of the deficiencies for classrooms, 20% for

chairs, and 12% for new teachers. This is of course on top of more than P100 billion

needed to implement the K to 12 scheme. ACT further notes that “Based on the latest

National Budget Memorandum 113 of the Department of Budget and Management

(DBM), the budget ceiling for DepED for 2013 is pegged at P259.25B but DepED

10 Downloadable at http://www.scribd.com/doc/100173820/Alliance-of-Concerned-Teachers-ACT-Critique-of-and-Call-to-Action-on-PNoy-s-K-to-12

27

requires a budget of P321.91B. One big question that hounds the Aquino administration

is where to get an additional P78.95 B to supply everything that DepEd needs for 2013.”

Even the World Bank, in its PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY UPDATE (July 2012) admitted

that “basic education budget per student has been persistently low (in the Philippines),

fluctuating within the PhP5,000 – PhP6,000 band in real terms (measured in 2000

prices) since 2000, while school-age population has been growing rapidly. As the

education budget has yet to catch up with population growth, schools still cannot find

sufficient space to teach their children.”

It is thus clear that the Philippine government has no sufficient fund for the

budgetary requirement in implementing the K to 12 scheme. Page 1 of the K to 12

primer at the Official Gazette reveals how DepEd intends to fund the Aquino

administration’s centerpiece educational reform: “One scheme for Senior High School is

to front-load all needed capital investments, take a grant or loan from government and

private banks based on annual budget, and pay the amortization yearly. We also have

the support of local government units and private partners to build the needed

infrastructure.” In simpler terms, the Philippine government will acquire loans to finance

the K to 12 scheme.

It is not surprising that the World Bank supports K to 12. In a “Country Assistance

Strategy (CAS) Progress Report” of the World Bank Group (Abril 20, 2011), it is stated

that “...(the Philippine government) is also considering extending the basic education

cycle from 10 to 12 years under the DepEd‘s Enhanced K to 12 Basic Education

Program,” and for this, the World Bank promised “to sustain technical support and

assistance to the reforms in partnership with AusAID and others...Ongoing and

proposed Bank operations are being aligned to this new policy context and the

challenges brought about by the major policy decision to change the basic education

cycle.” Hence, the World Bank is ready to finance the K to 12 Program despite the fact

that it doesn’t like to provide loans for any industrialization scheme such as petroleum

refineries, gold mines, steel mills etc.

According to Section 13 of the K to 12 Bill or House Bill 6643 (emphasis is

supplied): “The Secretary of Education shall immediately include in the Department’s

28

program the operationalization of the enhanced basic education program, the initial

funding of which shall be charged against the current appropriations of the DepED.

Thereafter, the amount necessary for the continued implementation of the enhanced

basic education program shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.”

Because any deficit in the national budget (contained in the annual General

Appropriations Act) is normally plugged by debts, it is now certain that the K to 12 will all

the more make the country indebted to its foreign creditors.

Alternatives to K to 12

In general, instead of immediately implementing the K to 12 scheme, the

researcher suggests the improvement or the overhaul of the current 11-year Basic

Education cycle (Kindergarten, Grades 1 to 6 at Grades 7 to 10) and additional

investments for state colleges and universities, and to the whole education sector.

Allotting sufficient budget for education is the first step to improve the 11-year Basic

Education cycle. Currently, the Philippines is an outlier when it comes to the percentage

of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) allotted to education. As per the standards of the

United Nations (UN), at least 6% of the GDP must be allotted to education. Notice that

the Philippines did not even reach the minimum standard in the past years as data from

the Public Data Explorer in the website of the UNDP comparing statistics from the

Philippines and from developed countries would attest (India was inadvertently added in

the list due to a technical glitch which the researcher was unable to correct in

processing data via the United Nations’ Public Date Explorer):

29

Meanwhile, here’s the data comparing the Philippines’ education budget and the

education budgets of poorer countries:

30

Hence, the additional budget that would be allotted to the K to 12 scheme will be

better spent for improving the current 11-year Basic Education cycle first. Debates on

whether to add 2 more years in high school should start once the 11-year Basic

Education cycle from Kindergarten to Grade 10 is perfected.

Additional investments in the tertiary level, more especially in the fields of

research and development (R&D) are also important. The Philippines lags behind many

countries when it comes to R&D expenditures, hence the country is also weak in

innovation and modernization of technologies in education and other fields, as data from

the World Bank East Asia and Pacific Regional Report (2012) “Putting Higher Education

to Work Skills and Research for Growth in East Asia” would prove:

31

Additional budget for the tertiary level is important in ensuring that more students

will finish their schooling. It has been proven that the “rate of return” of investment in

studying in college and beyond is huge, as contained in a World Bank Report entitled

“Skills for the Labor Market in the Philippines” by Emanuela di Gropello, Hong Tan and

Prateek Tandon (2010):

32

According to World Bank East Asia and Pacific Region Poverty Reduction and

Economic Management Department Report entitled “Education and Wage Differentials

in the Philippines” (Xubei Luo at Takanobu Terada, 2009): “Tertiary education is to a

large extent a prerequisite for high-paid occupations.” Thus, it is now established that

the anti-college education mantra of the K to 12 advocates will not be beneficial to the

country in the long run.

In the PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY UPDATE of the World Bank entitled “Investing

in Inclusive Growth Amid Global Uncertainty” (July 2012), the following statistics on

college graduate income are tallied:

Therefore, instead of encouraging students not to study in college under the K to

12 scheme, the government must maximize investments in tertiary education so as to

attract more students to enroll and finish their college degress. This is one of the keys to

33

progress, as proven by developed nations. A country with highly educated citizens

would certainly enjoy high levels if sustainable growth in the long run.

Reoryentasyon ng Edukasyon at Ekonomya

Any additional budget for education will be useless unless the education and

economic systems of the country are not reoriented. We can change the subjects as

frequent as we can but we should emphasize inculcating nationalism in the hearts and

minds of Filipinos so that our citizens would be transformed into citizens who can fulfill

the dreams of Rizal, Bonifacio, Jacinto and Constantino: citizens who work for their

country’s progress. Hence, the country’s labor export policy must be scrapped, including

the related policy that treats schools in the Philippines as mere manufacturers of

workers and professionals for export.

To complement such endeavors, job opportunities within the country must be

broadened through implementing a comprehensive economic plan that focuses on self-

reliance or self-dependence. This can be done through national/nationalist

industrialization, agrarian reform, and modernization of agriculture. Hence, the

Philippines must utilize its resources for its own citizens’ progress, and not merely as

exports to other countries. The Philippines has all natural and human resources needed

by a country to become developed and powerful. These resources are waiting for

Filipinos who are ready to endeavor to use such resources for the country’s welfare,

and not merely for the welfare of foreigners.

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