Recto: Extend pre-school, not high school

THE Department of Education (DepEd) should put more years into pre-school instead of extending high school by one year, Senator Ralph Recto said Tuesday.

Recto prefers a "K2 plus Grade 7" curriculum, or two years of pre-school with an extra year in elementary school.

Extra two years of pre-school will help prepare students for the rigors of elementary school, he added.

"It is during the early stage of development that a child can better learn and assimilate ideas because of the rapid growth of physical and mental faculties," he said.

Citing DepEd data, Recto said more students drop out in Grades 1 to 3 instead of in later years.

He added that 42 percent of students entering Grade 1 in the public education system are not yet ready for schools.

A fifth year of high school may be too late for students who drop out before even reaching secondary education, he said.

"The challenge is to hone and prepare better equipped young pupils at the pre-school stage than forcing them later to extend another year so that they could finish high school," Recto said.

The DepEd estimates sending 2.5 million children to pre-school and kindergarten will cost the government around P17 billion a year.

Funding for the extra years of school can come from value-added tax collections, he said. (Jonathan de Santos/Sunnex)