DAVAO CITY – Youth activists in the national capital protested in their campuses on Thursday to call for the immediate junking of the government’s Kindergarten to 12 years of basic education (K-12) program.
Students from Ramon Magsaysay High School, Batasan High School, Manila High School, National Teachers College, and Polytechnic University of the Philippines joined the protest in their campuses.
Vencer Crisostomo, Anakbayan national chairperson reiterated their position that the K-12 “would aggravate our education and employment problems.”
Crisostomo cited the Department of Education (DepEd) statement that only 3,839 of the 7,976, or only 48 percent, of public high schools have been submitted for K-12 funding and construction. Crisostomo said DepEd can only accommodate 800,000 to 1.1 million or only about half of the 2.2 million students currently taking up 4th year.
“With less than half of public high schools catering senior high, DepEd is forcing students to either enter private schools and made to pay higher tuition fees, or drop out,” said Crisostomo.
“The current cycle of education currently burdens parents and students. The additional years plus the possible transfer to private school would mean additional burden. We demand that the current grade 10 students should be allowed to graduate high school next year, ” he added.
Currently, there are four petitions against K-12 filed in Supreme Court by several groups and organizations.(davaotoday.com)
