PRESS RELEASE

K+12 to integrate best features of basic education

The Department of Education continues to pursue its key basic education
programs even as the groundwork for the eventual roll out of the enhanced
curriculum under the K+12 program is underway.

Education Secretary Armin A. Luistro said all the current programs being
implemented by the department are now carefully studied for integration in the
K+12 curriculum being drafted by experts from DepEd, CHED, TESDA and
educators from public and private schools.

“What we want is a seamless transition from the current to the enhanced

curriculum that is more responsive to learning needs of students and the
community,” added Luistro. This is why we are seriously considering the
inclusion of all the best features of our current programs.”

K+12 is a major education reform program which extends basic education from
10 to 12 years to better prepare students for the world of work, higher education
and global employment. K+12 also calls for the declogging of the curriculum and
the inclusion of various career tracks that students can choose from depending
on their inclination.

K+12 starts with kindergarten which becomes mandatory for all 5-year olds in
public schools starting June this year. This will be followed by 6 years of
elementary school, four years of junior or regular high school and two years of
senior high school where students will be given various career/livelihood tracks
for their mastery.

Following closely the intent of the Basic Education Reform Program (BESRA)
which is another flagship program of DepEd, Luistro explained that one of the
recommendations under BESRA is the expansion of the basic education
curriculum from a 10 to a 12-year cycle.

“The same holds true under School-Based Management which gives school
heads greater elbow room to provide for the needs of their schools and be
answerable for the educational outcomes,” Luistro pointed out. He added that
SBM and BESRA will become even more relevant when K+12 is implemented.

Meanwhile, DepEd Undersecretary for Programs and Projects Yolanda Quijano

stressed that DepEd’s alternative delivery modes such as the Drop-out Rate
Reduction Program (DORP) and Alternative Learning System (ALS) will also be
pursued earnestly as these programs target learners who have unique needs
not provided by the formal school system.

“K+12 is inclusive, which means it will reach out to all kinds of learners
regardless of age, gender, ethnicity and social status which is in keeping also
with the goals of United Nations - initiated Education For All,” Quijano said.

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DepEd will also push for the strengthening of technical-vocational schools which
currently number more than 250 nationwide. Tech-voc education is one of the
tracks to be included during the 11th and 12th under K+12.

DepEd also believes that by putting equal emphasis on the skills and talents of
students, the stigma of non-degree courses being inferior to a college diploma
will be demolished.

“Magandang pagkakataon ang K+12 upang bigyan ng pantay na importansiya

ang mga kumukuha ng tech-voc, music, arts, entreprenuership na dati-rati ay
mababa ang pagtingin kumpara sa mga college graduates,” Quijano stressed.

Quijano also explained that multi-lingual education will be continued saying that
children learn better if the mother tongue or the langauge used at home is used
from pre-school up to the third grade. “Pati multi-lingual education may puwang
sa K+12,”

Luistro, on the other hand, added that while DepEd fine-tunes the proposed
curriculum, the department continues to address the resource gaps in basic
education such as teacher shortage, classroom backlogs, quality textbooks, ICT
equipment and other learning supplement, among others.
“It’s a two-pronged approach to address what ails the country’s public school
system,” Luistro said.
END

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