A group advocating children’s rights worries that K-12 will only worsen the number of children who will not be able to go to school.
In a statement on Saturday, Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns cited the report of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (Unesco) that the Philippines is one of the countries with the most number of youth who are unable to enroll even in primary school. Unesco said only 69 percent of youth enrolled in elementary graduates until Grade 6 but are unable to go to high school.
Kharlo Manano secretary general of Salinlahi said they are not surprised why a number of poor children are unable to go to school.
“Karaniwang dahilan ang mga bayarin sa pampublikong paaralan at ngayon, dagdag gastusin pa sa pamilya ang dagdag dalawang taon sa ilalim ng K-12 program ng gubyernong Aquino (The common reason for this is the school expenses and now with K-12 program comes additional burden for families with the two years extension in schooling)”, Manano said.
Manano said they have been opposing K-12 program since its early stage because they know this will not result to more quality in education.
Manano said the government in 2012 promised that unemployment rate in the country will improve with K-12. The government added that the number of youth out of school, Manano said citing that this is not happening with the recent result shown by Social Weather Stations last quarter of 2014 survey that there are 12.4 million Filipinos who are unemployed. The figure is 22.9 percent higher compared to the third quarter of the same year.
Meanwhile the National Union of Students in the Philippines said there are 1.5 million youth who dropped from school while 15 million who are out of school.
Salinlahi calls for the immediate stop of K-12 program as this would “worsen the education crisis felt by students, teachers and parents.” Manano said the government should address the lack of school facilities, teachers, and regular jobs for workers.
