DEPED ANSWERS K-12 CONCERNS 

     Department of Education (DepEd) Assistant Secretary Jesse Mateo addressed parents’ and guardians’ issues with additional expenses and the lack of facilities upon the implementation of K-12.

     In an interview on ‘Good Morning Kuya’ (GMK), Asec. Mateo explained the benefits of K-12 to clear out the complaints about the disadvantages of implementing K-12.

     According to the hosts of ‘GMK’, some parents’ interpretation of K-12 is two more years of school, two more years of expenses.

     “Ang General Education, ‘pag binaba sa Senior High, magiging libre, kasi most schools na may K-12 ay public schools, tapos ‘pag college na sila, hindi na nila kailangan kunin ang General Education,” Asec. Mateo pointed out.

     He also said that in senior high, they will add guidance or career counselling. There would be less drop-outs and will avoid shifting of courses.

     “Ang curriculum kasi dati, hindi angkop sa interes ng bata,” he said. “Sa implementation of K-12, magiging mature ang bata bago pumasok ng kolehiyo,” he added.

     The hosts of ‘GMK’ mentioned the concern of implementing K-12 when there are still facilities that are still lacking. Concerns like 1:1 book-student, ratio of teacher to students, and the lack of classrooms.

     “66,000 ang kakulangan sa room sa K-10 palang, kaya tatapusin muna natin ang pangagailangan ng K-10 bago ang Senior High,” Asec. Mateo explained.

He also said that DepEd provided 128,000 teacher items. Ratio of teacher student in Kinder is 1:25. For grades 1 and 2, the ratio is 1:40, grades 3-10 is 1:45, and for Senior High, 1:25. (Nyssa De Guzman)