NewsRecord Weekly Publication

K to 12 starts smooth

Kindergarten plus 12 years of Basic Education (K to 12) was implemented smoothly starting June 4, school heads reported.

"As far as Grade 1 is concerned, implementation is okay but the burden is on the teachers," Cynthia Demavivas, Asst. Schools Division Superintendent and OIC of the Department of Education gave her assessment. Teachers in Grade 1 are now faced with the challenge of implementing K to 12 together with the Mother Tongue-Based Multi-Lingual Education (MTB-MLE).

MTB-MLE does not come with textbooks so teachers are forced to make big books, charts, cards and other visual learning aids. In Tandang Sora Elementary School, Grade 1 teacher Giannefel Natividad B. Bellego readily conducted her class in her native Cebuano. Bellego gave her pupils instructions using the mother tongue and the class got going on day one through the Cebuano children's song "Kumusta ka?" Pupils responded both with glee and surprise that they had to sing not English but Cebuano songs.

For the whole division, only Don Juan Elementary School in Barangay Punao does not have enough classrooms for its pupils. Several rooms in the said school had been declared condemnable. 

Demavivas also reported that DepEd Order No. 41, series of 2012 is now being promulgated nationwide. The order mandates that for Grades 1 to 3, the maximum number of pupils per class should only be 40. In high school, there should only be 40 to 60 students in a class.

While most schools in San Carlos does not have a problem complying with the order,  Florentina Ledesma Elementary School (FLES), Greenville Elementary School and Lina dela Viña Elementary School have classes from Grades 1 to 3 that exceed the prescribed size. But the superintendent said this tolerable since these big classes are made of no more than 43 to 45 pupils.

School heads also reported during a June 6 meeting at the DepEd Division Office that Grade 7 teachers cry foul because the K to 12 module that includes guide on the Understanding by Design (UBD) approach in teaching high school has not yet arrived. As of press time, teachers are forced to rely on their raw learning from the summer seminars and workshops. 

Despite these few issues, the K to 12 wheels are unstoppably turning in an effort to pull up the Philippine education system.

Jane S. De Guzman, principal of Ramon Magsaysay Elementary School (RMES), credits the smooth opening of classes and K to 12 implementation in her school on June 4 to the early enrollment. De Guzman said that RMES enrollment is at 1,000 (approximate) and most of these pupils had enrolled during the Brigada Eskwela  early last May. Only transferees are being enrolled during the first week of classes and that Grade 1 pupils who are pioneering K to 12 took the School Readiness Assessment Test on the first day to determine their sections.

K to 12 is no longer a problem because all six of the Grade 1 teachers had undergone training, the RMES principal added. RMES has six Grade 1 sections and two Kindergarten classes.

However, the school lacks about three classrooms for industrial arts and computer laboratory. The principal said that RMES with TSES, Greenville Elementary School, and Cong. Vicente Gustilo, Sr. Memorial Elementary School is a recipient of the E-classroom package. But RMES does not have room yet for the computers and digital equipment which will arrive early this school year.

Eva Dollosa, principal of Andres Bonifacio Central Elementary School (ABCES), said that there is no problem on K to 12 in her school, too. But the student population at ABCES was not yet completed on day one because "parents are used to enrollment on day one." There are even several parents who prefer enrolling later within the first week of school.

ABCES does not lack classrooms though, in fact some rooms are even unoccupied, and there are enough teachers, 22 of them, for its 700 plus pupils.

Erlinda Cobbol, Ed. D., District IV supervisor, commented that she finds the preparation for K to 12 lacking but that as a DepEd personnel she "had to embrace [the new curriculum]."

"We have to help one another," Cobbol pointed that this was Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro's message to the entire department.

On the secondary level, Wilfreda Tuban, academic coordinator of Colegio de Sto. Tomas-Recoletos (CSTR) said that there is difficulty adjusting to K to 12 design especially because it also mandates cooperative and individual learning. This new system means reduced number of teaching ours for every subject area. Tuban however projected that this system will enable students to grasp more lessons in a shorter span of time since they are no longer overloaded with subjects.

CSTR is now adopting the staggered schedule system, an option that K to 12 also provides. Subject areas no longer have the same schedule for the entire week. Math, a major learning area, has to have four hours per week but it has a different schedule every day.

Tuban reported that parents positively welcomed K to 12 and the changes that come with it. CSTR now boasts of a 30 to 40 student increase for Grade 7. The students, though surprised with the new schedule design, are also excited to learn lessons in shorter class hours. 

In concert with fellow teachers, the academic coordinator said that K to 12 and its UBD approach will help produce quality learners with "life-long skills." However, she lamented that DepEd changes policies as often as it changes its department secretary. She pointed that the burden falls on the shoulders of the teachers who need to adjust often and results on the students' performance are, most of time, unseen.