Anakabayan-Europe
May 29, 2016
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Stop the K to 12
The clamour of the youth groups and teachers associations in the Philippines to STOP K to 12 reached Europe. Together with the youth International Solidarity movement, Revolutionaire Eenhied (Revolutionary Unity), Anakbayan-Europe took up President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to STOP K to 12 or Kinder to Grade 12 educational system being introduced in the Philippines.
Being the only country in Asia and one of the three countries in the world that has ten years pre-university cycle, the Department of Education or DepEd in the Philippines finds it justifiable to adapt the educational system globally recognized by students and professionals.
The glitch- Twelve years of pre-university cycle does not secure the employment of the youth, in poverty stricken countries like the Philippines; two more years of secondary education would only mean two more years of financial burden for the Filipinos. Needless to say, this educational reform will be used as a tool to heighten contractualization and intensify the labour export policy in the country ever since the Marcos regime. This educational reform will only benefit the capitalists that see the ordinary Filipino family as milking cow. With at least 60,000 pesos additional per annum, clearly the educational system in the Philippines becomes more a big business rather the basic right of the youth. K to 12 is not only a burden for the students and their family but also for the educators. Filipino and Philippine History are just few subjects that will be removed in the curriculum with the implementation of K to 12, and what will happen to almost 500,000 school teachers once the courses that they are teaching have been removed? They might be lucky enough to find contractual jobs at home, or be part of the 10% of the Philippine population, that find jobs abroad and be called economic heroes by the government.
According to the progressive organizations in the Philippines, there is a dramatic increase in the number of out-of- school youth for this academic year. According to DepEd, only 1.1 million of the 2 million incoming senior high school students can be accommodated in public schools due to budget issues. This would lead for the remaining percentage of the Filipino students to enrol in private schools. The capitalists in the Philippines ensure that they would spare no family when it comes to the crimes they are committing against the ordinary Filipino people. President-elect Duterte should be reminded that most of his supporters opposed K to 12. He should also be reminded that five students took their lives in the country because of the unaffordable education.
The solution- Anakbayan-Europe states that the Philippines does not need educational reform but economic reforms. Schools and universities in the country are nothing but diploma mills that sell tickets to enter the labour market. Without said diplomas, one could be seen as incompetent or under-skilled by the capitalists, hence the contractualization and overseas work. The plight of the students is no different from the plight of the workers — what will a student do with the diploma when there are no stable or regular jobs available in the labour market? The K to 12 is a training programme of the students by businessmen to prepare them for what the labour market demands — cheap labour. A training provided by the Philippine government and capitalists in order to export cheap labour and make a killing from the remittances sent by overseas Filipino workers.
Stop K to 12!
Junk the educational reform that burdens the ordinary Filipino families!
Economic reform and not educational reform!#