Sec. Luistro seeks support from Icot on DepEd’s K+12 Program

TACLOBAN CITY – While he is in favor of the proposed K+12 Program of the Department of Education (DepEd), Leyte Governor Jericho “Icot” Petilla disclosed that Education Secretary Armin Luistro has requested him to help the department rally the program in Congress.

To implement the program, the DepEd has to work with Congress to amend the existing law, Batas Pambansa 232, or the “Education Act of 1982,” which provides the country’s basic education program shoud be 10 year.

Gov. Petilla said his favorable stance on the K+12 Program is based on the proposal that this would provide employable skills to the students that can get them jobs even without a college diploma, aside from the fact that the program will conform with the global standard of having 12 years of basic education.

“We already have a skills programs introduced among identified high schools in Leyte although the problem was, when they grauate they cannot be hired yet as they are still below 18 years old,” Gov. Petilla said.

The program the governor was pointing out is the ICOT-P program, a landmark program of the provincial government.

With K+12, the purpose is almost the same and the age requirement for employable graduates would be met, the governor added.

It was learned that the Senate education committee had earlier created technical working groups (TWG) to study the proposal and call for a wider consultation regarding the matter

With the fate of K+12 still to be given much consideration, Gov. Petilla has included in his visits to various barangays in the province and meetings with local teachers a consultation on the said program to get their views and opinions.

It was learned that the K+12 will add two more years to the current 10-year program dedicated to teaching students practical skills in agriculture, aquaculture, sports, arts and technical-vocational courses.

The additional two years would be comparable to a two-year course in a vocational or information technology school, but the tuition fee would be free in public schools. However, it is not clear yet if the two years would be added to the elementary or high school level, or split between the two levels.

The 12-year program was first introduced by Pres. “Noynoy” Aquino during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) last year.

source: leytesamardaily