By Rey Anthony H. Chiu
TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, June 11 (PIA) -- Kindergarten to Grade 12 (K to 12) starts this year.
Bohol Department of Education (DepEd) officials assured concerned parents that the two more years in school, which begins this year, would make high school graduates earn the competency, better able to land jobs, and take a better standing among the country’s and international labor force.
According to Dr. Wilfreda Bongalos, the old system allows students to graduate high school while they are yet too young to find work, and if they do, they could not demand for just wages as they are under-aged and are technically working illegally.
This year, education officials implement the basic educational system reform agenda (BESRA), which will add more years in high school to keep graduates globally competitive.
“They will be at the right working age (when they finish),” pointed out Dr. Bongalos, meaning after the additional two years of technical and vocational training in the senior high school.
She also pointed out that the country should keep up with other countries in adopting an educational program that maximizes training for work competency.
The reforms implemented in grade 1 digs into the pupil’s lingual resources- the mother tongue- to get pupils in a better position to grasp education concepts, she said.
Dr. Bongalos, along with Education Supervisor Pablito Villalon explained the K to 12 at the Kapihan sa PIA recently.
After taking kindergarten and 12 years, students would have learned skills to allow them to determine their future trade or profession when they graduate from senior high school, according to Dr. Bongalos.
Mother tongue is the language the kids use at home. She explained that the mother tongue will be used in the kid’s first three years in the elementary. The teacher will slowly introduce Filipino towards the fourth year.
Other than the use of the mother tongue, pupils also get introduced to four more subjects: Mathematics, Araling Panlipunan, Edukasyon at Pagpakatao, Music, Arts Physical Education at Health (MAPEH)
With the BESRA, students will find two more years of school after their completing their first four years in high school. Now called the senior high school, this is where technical and vocational trainings are introduced.
According to the Division Office, those who finish the junior high school need to proceed to senior high school before they are accepted in college. As they graduate from high school, they would have learned some skills that would enable them to be hired.(mbcn/rahc-PIA 7, Bohol)