Local-literature.docx

Local Literature

Enhancing the quality of basic education in the Philippines is urgent and critical. Due to that, one of the discussions of Department of Education (DepEd) which incurred last October 2010 is to enhance the basic education program of the country in a manner that is least disruptive to the current curriculum, most affordable to government and families, and aligned with international practice through the K-12 policy. This quality of education is reflected in the inadequate preparation of high school graduates for the world of work or entrepreneurship or higher education. High school graduates also do not possess the basic competencies or emotional maturity essential for the world of work. The enhanced K-12 program, or the DepEd proposal to overhaul the basic and secondary education curriculum by adding two more years to the system is arguably one of the most drastic and controversial programs of the Aquino administration. According to SEAMEO Innotech (2011), which is considered as the preferred education solutions provider in Southeast Asia and also an ISO9001: 2008 Certified, the Philippine is the last country in Asia and one of only three countries in the world with a 10-year pre-university program. The K-12 model to be implemented in the country is an educational system for basic and secondary education patterned after the United States, Canada, and some parts of Australia. The current basic education system is also an archetype of American schooling but with a10-year cycle. K-12 has been met with criticism from youth and student groups, teachers, parents and the academic community. The DepEd, for its part, appears determined to enact the program with its proposed budget catering mostly to preparing the grounds for its eventual implementation. The DepEd argues that the K-12 program will be the solution to yearly basic education woes and the deteriorating quality of education.