Militant students on Monday urged President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to stop the K to 12 education program of President Benigno Aquino III.
“We appeal to our new president to heed our call to stop and junk the K to 12 program. To President Duterte, do not allow our dreams and futures to be destroyed because of the K to 12 program implemented by the previous administration,” said a statement of Junior High School completer and Stop K to 12 Alliance spokesperson Princess Balaba.
Balaba finished grade 10 in a public high school in Quezon City and was one of the top students of her class.
Her family originally came from Eastern Visayas and they were among the thousands of families affected by Super Typhoon ‘‘Yolanda.’’
Balaba narrated that the slots for senior high school (SHS) in her current school are very limited. She noted that out of seven sections of grade 10 students, her school will only be offering two sections of grade 11 students.
Balaba said that her parents cannot afford a private SHS education and affirmed that she might drop out of high school education if she can’t obtain a slot in her current school.
“President Duterte, enrollment has started but most of us have nowhere to go. The slots offered in public schools for senior high school is so scarce that some of us are already considering to drop out of our high school education because we cannot afford private senior high schools,” said Balaba.
“Under K to 12, we are deprived of being a high school graduate even after finishing four years in high school. We will not be allowed to go to college. Even if we decide to go to work, we will have low wages because we weren’t able to at least finish high school education. President Duterte, under K to 12, there is only a pitch black future that awaits us,” Balaba added.
League of Filipino Students secretary-general Aries Gupit stressed that the K to 12 will only produce more drop-outs. He added that this education program certainly curtails the youth’s right to free public basic education.
“K to 12 is transforming our education into a lucrative business by allowing private schools to dominate senior high school. In the National Capital Region alone, only 2 out of 10 SHS are public. Of the 933 senior high schools in the region, 736 are private schools with matriculation cost of 25,000 pesos up to more than 100,000 pesos,” said Gupit.
“DepEd pronouncements that there are more public schools offering senior high school are meaningless. These public schools have very limited slots that they cannot even cater to half of their grade 10 students,” he added.
Gupit noted that under K to 12, at least 700 thousand to one million students will be either forced to enroll in private schools or drop out of their high school education.
“The ongoing chaos in enrollment is the result of the evil design of K to 12 to force students into private schools, make the most out of their pockets even at the expense of their right to education and future,” Gupit said.
Gupit also challenged the presumptive president Rodrigo Duterte to end the K to 12 program. According to him, the students welcome his early pronouncements against K to 12 and they expect Duterte to uphold his stand against Aquino’s main education platform.
“President Duterte, you stood against K to 12 in your previous statements during the campaign period. You even told in an interview that it is not too late to stop the program and you are not a fan of mandatory addition of two years in high school. We hope that you will uphold these pronouncements,” said Gupit.
“In the following days, we hope to hear from you. We challenge you to stop K to 12 and knock over this program implemented the previous regime. We stress that K to 12 puts our pag-asa ng bayan, today’s youth, and the whole nation’s future in great peril,” Gupit ended.