03 February 2012

K-To-12 'Does Not Assure Work'


Education Secretary Armin Luistro said on Thursday that while the curriculum for the Enhanced K to 12 Basic Education Program will be sufficient to prepare students for work, it is not an “assurance” that the graduates will have jobs after six years of high school.
“We don’t want to give false hopes or empty promises,” said Luistro in an interview. “Assurance of job is not just a function of the Department of Education (DepEd) but also of the students themselves and the environment,” he said.
After the K to 12 program was unveiled in October 2010, one of its “selling points” to parents, students, and other stakeholders is that graduates will land on a job after completing two years of Senior High School (SHS) on top of four years of Junior High School (JHS), six years of Elementary and a year of Kinder.

Luistro clarified that “this is just one of the initial goals” of the program. “We say that the K to 12 will help produce employable graduates because its curriculum will be sufficient to prepare students for work,” he said.
The K to 12 curriculum will help students to get jobs after graduation because it will enable them to acquire Certificate of Competency (CoCs) and National Certifications (NCs) which will be in accordance to Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA) training regulation. “Given this, it will allow graduates to have middle level skills and will offer them better opportunities to be gainfully employed,” Luistro said.
The SHS, which will officially start in school year 2016, will offer specialization on academics, middle-level skills development, sports and arts. “The specializations will also be guided by local needs and conditions,” Luistro explained.
One of the biggest specializations for the SHS, according to Luistro, is geared towards technical-vocational (tech-voc) training. “In relation to this, there will be school-industry partnership for tech-voc tracks to allow students gain work experience while studying and offer the opportunity to be absorbed by the companies,” he said.
While the curriculum is designed to respond to the needs of the industry, it is not being developed as a national curriculum, he said, adding, “I feel that the jobs can be easier filled if they are focused on the needs of the local industry.”
Luistro also admitted that there may not be enough jobs available for all graduates of SHS. “We foresee that by that time, the job opportunities will still be not enough and that is why we are developing a curriculum which is not just job-oriented but also focused on entrepreneurship which is very crucial,” he said.
By INA HERNANDO-MALIPOT
mb.com.ph

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