I’M QUITE envious of other countries’ K to 12 systems. Their teens have more time for school clubs, part time jobs, or leisure, because for a student to stay long inside the classroom is not what education is for, really. Teenagers in our country are still staying in their desks for eight hours every day.
The Philippines has implemented the K to 12 as well in 2013, and one of the reasons for adding extra years in the basic education curriculum is to decongest it, aside from the need to follow global trends and not get left behind. So much is taught in a single year that students cannot take in all the learnings.
This was reflected in the low average scores of Filipino students in Mathematics and Science in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) assessment.
Seeing Senior High School students today, most of them have stayed in their classrooms for a whole day from 8AM to 4PM because of their jam packed class schedules. It’s as if nothing has changed from their former curriculum.
As a matter of fact, some subjects in their curriculum overlap or is redundant. For example, the Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMMS) strand has the subjects Creative Writing and Creative Non-Fiction. In the introduction of the latter subject, Creative Writing will still be slightly introduced in order to draw the line between creative.
Though I understand that skill sharpening and activities take the most time rather than lectures in courses like these, having these writing subjects split into two different subjects still adds to the congestion of the curriculum. Senior High School students have added subjects such as work immersion that takes quite an amount of time.
Benchmarking studies have also showed that our curriculum truly is cramped, compared to the curriculum in Malaysia. Furthermore, Malaysian classrooms spend about 1,300 minutes per week for sciences classes, while the Philippines have about 1,600 minutes per week. If you think much is good, think again. Despite the lack of hours, Malaysian students perform better than our students.
We’re squeezing too much to our young learners that they could no longer take in too much input. They need space to breathe, reflect, and ponder on what we have been teaching them. Too much input I no good.
There is a need to remember that these kids, before they are students, are also teenagers who have to grow in other aspects of their lives. They need more time during daylight to play, explore, talk, and find more about themselves. These activities cannot only be done in school alone.
Studies have also shown that teen depression and anxiety is on the rise and has higher rates in this generation’s students than in the kids of 1950s. Factors like education also cause kids to bear stress in levels that they should yet to experience until they are old enough.
In one Senior High School in Marawi, because of the tight class schedules, kids can only join one extracurricular club. Teachers argue that it’s because classes end at about 4PM for the kids and that their school requirements are quite demanding. The deem that the kids, despite their great interest in other clubs, will no longer be able to shoulder the weight of one blub and their academics.
K to 12 in the Philippines is still in its fifth year while we have just had the graduation of the first batch of Senior High School students. I understand that the whole curriculum itself is still in the process of improvement and revisions are still coming. In considering improvements, DepEd should also consider that even if they consider Senior High School to be similar to college, it is still part of the basic education curriculum and that these kids are still growing teenagers. We should not pressure them to enter adulthood immediately but let them gradually grow.
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