ANGARA PROPOSES K-12 OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

In the recently concluded budget deliberations in the Upper House, Senator Edgardo J. Angara defended the 2011 allocation of the Department of Education (DepEd) and all its attached agencies.

Asked whether the proposed 12-year Basic Education program was included in DepEd's 2011 budget, Angara said it was still too early to allocate for its implementation in next year's budget. The K12 program, he said, is still in its early planning and assessment stage.

According to Angara, plans are underway to create an ad hoc board to handle the K-12 consultation and implementation.

"A proposal was made, from both houses of Congress, to create an Oversight Committee on Education--a self-destruct type that will provide a platform for the wider and more extensive consultation, as well as the execution of this program. They will also recommend the placement of the additional years into the school system. If we tuck it into the tertiary level, the financial burden will be shouldered by the parents but if we tuck it into the primary or secondary levels, then the burden will be more on the government," he said.

Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Education, Arts and Culture, reiterated his reasons for supporting the addition of two years to the basic education curriculum.

"The first theory behind increasing our years in the Philippine basic education is to align us with the international norm, because that has a practical implication. We are one of the few nations left in the region with 10-years of basic ed, and that puts us at a disadvantage in an international setting.

For instance, some of our architects are not accepted as a full architect in other countries because they lack two years in basic education. Some of our nurses are treated not as registered nurse but as nursing aide precisely for the same reason. That happens in many areas, so we do not want to handicap our own children.

"The second reason is to promote early childhood education. There are many countries especially in the west that begin to admit children as young as four years old to nursery school. It has been proven by recent pedagogical studies that the earlier we teach our children, the more he will retain in his adulthood," he explained.