MINI CRITIQUE By Isagani Cruz (The Philippine Star) | Updated November 5, 2015 - 12:00am

A few (but not all) regional offices of the Department of Education (DepEd) have been telling private
schools to follow strictly the Senior High School (SHS) curriculum guides being used by public schools.
There are two things wrong with this.
First, it is the Office of the Undersecretary for Programs and Projects in the Central Office of DepEd that
evaluates and approves curriculums, not the regional offices. This is very clear in DepEd Memorandum
No. 4, s. 2014 (Guidelines on the Preparation for the National Implementation of the Senior High School
Program in Non-DepEd Schools for the School Year 2016-2017 and Onwards).
DepEd has stated, again and again, that one size cannot fit all. It is against government policy for all
schools (not just private schools) to have exactly the same curriculum, using exactly the same curriculum
guides, taught in exactly the same way to different types of learners in communities with different needs.
In fact, it is illegal for regional offices, as well as for DepEd itself, to insist that exactly the same
curriculum should be used in all schools. Republic Act 10533, the law that created the K to 12 program,
says explicitly in Section 2c as a statement of policy, that the State shall make education learner-oriented
and responsive to the needs, cognitive and cultural capacity, the circumstances and diversity of learners,
schools and communities. (The example given is that of the use of the mother tongue, but the policy
applies to everything in education, not just to the language of instruction.)
The second thing wrong with regional offices (or the Central Office) insisting that private schools should
follow the public school curriculum is that it removes the basic reason for private education.
If private schools teach exactly the same subjects in exactly the same way as public schools, why should
there be private schools at all? Parents who spend a lot of money sending their children to private schools
clearly do not believe that public schools offer what their children need. Otherwise, why spend all that
money? (Since a lot of private school teachers have moved to public schools, the old reason that teachers
were better in private schools no longer applies.)
Private schools should, in fact, NOT offer what the public schools are offering. Private schools should
have their own curriculum, their own teaching methods, their own educational objectives. Parents will get
what they pay for. If a private school is just a diploma mill or an excuse for its owners to make money,
then parents will not send their children there. There is a market principle here.
When he was Education Secretary, Raul Roco told owners of private schools that he would not bother
with them, not only because he had no time left over after supervising the huge number of public schools,
but because he believed that market forces should rule the private school industry (if we may call it an
industry).
A similar anomaly in our educational system is that the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) really
has very little authority over state and local colleges and universities, except for chairing their boards,
since these schools have their own charters. As a result, CHED is really only looking over private schools,

which is also wrong, when you think of what higher education is, according to our Constitution. (Fr. Joel
Tabora, S.J., has written quite a bit about this.)
DepEd should not fall into the trap that CHED has fallen into. DepEd should tell its regional offices that
private schools can offer whatever they want to offer. When a private school graduates learners who
cannot be employed, who cannot put up their own businesses, or who cannot meet the College Readiness
Standards, parents not government officials will make sure that the school will close down.
REMEMBERING LOVED ONES: I remember the departed members of the Manila Critics Circle
(Leonidas Benesa, Miguel A. Bernad SJ, Ophelia Alcantara Dimalanta, Doreen G. Fernandez, and
Alfrredo Navarro Salanga),
my bridge-playing friends (Enrique Belo, Linda Campos, Phyllis Harvey, Syed Zeyaul Hoda, Paquito
Javier, Puring Javier, Polly Nestle, Dioscoro Papa, Helen Saad, Rudi Santiago, Vic Santiago, Helen
Tubangui, Teresa Yuchengco, Efren Zaide, and Sachiko Zobel),
my fellow Fulbrighters (Corazon Agrava, Rolando Dizon FSC, Rafael Donato FSC, Marcelo Fernan, and
Andrew Gonzalez FSC),
my fellow UPSCANs (Francisco Abao Jr., Ramon Casas, Jimmy Cruz, Violeta Calvo-Drilon, Mervyn
Encanto, Generoso Gil, Jesus Javelona, Louie Lagdameo, Bienvenido M. Lim Jr., Raul Nery, Jaime
Nierras, Jaime Ong, Emmeline Quinio, Johnny Ramos, Ruben Rivera, Wilfrido Santiano, Angelica
Soriano, Raquel Zaraspe-Ordoez, and Tercy Villaruz),
my colleagues in FUSE (Froilan Bacungan, Josefina Cortes, Salvador Escudero III, Alberto Muyot, and
Marsh Thompson),
my fellow Former Senior Government Officials (Emy Boncodin, Sostenes Campillo Jr., Ed del Fonso,
Quentin Doromal, Evangeline Escobillo, Nixon Kua, Josefina Lichauco, Rizalino Navarro, Vicente
Paterno, Mario Taguiwalo, and Victor Ordoez),
my favorite teachers (Nieves Epistola, Joseph Galdon SJ, and Gil Raval),
and my literary sister Lina Santos Cortes Raquion (daughter of my literary father Bienvenido N. Santos).
Please say a special prayer for my mother Pacita Ronquillo Cruz, in her youth a short story writer, and my
father Ricardo Castillo Cruz, a scientist who loved to read.
MINI CRITIQUE By Isagani Cruz (The Philippine Star) | Updated February 4, 2016 - 12:00am

Last Jan. 13, the Department of Education (DepEd) issued a clarification on the Senior High School
(SHS) Voucher Program. Among the important instructions in DepEd Order No. 1, series of 2016, is yet
another reminder to students, parents, and (yes!) DepEd officials that the program will empower students

with the choice to pursue their desired senior high school education. It cannot be overemphasized that no
one can tell students where to go for their SHS.
The new DepEd Order adds an important reminder to DepEd officials: All DepEd units are prohibited
from expressing any bias toward any particular SHS provider. This seems to be a reaction to reports that
some DepEd officials are either actively encouraging Grade 10 students to enroll in particular private
schools or discouraging them from going to particular private schools. (You can guess at the motivation of
these officials in our country that has just been humiliated internationally with a drastic drop in the Global
Corruption Index.)
Anyway, back to the way the voucher program operates.
There is a misconception that the vouchers that students entering SHS will get are pieces of paper. In our
hypothetical examples of Maria and Juan going to private schools for Grade 11 this coming June, the
misconception is that they will both get paper vouchers that they will then hand over to the schools. This
is not the case at all.
What will happen is this. (To make the example simpler, let us first assume that Maria and Juan are going
to the same private SHS.)
First, the private school will have itself listed in an online information management system called the
Senior High School Voucher Management System (SHS-VMS). Of course, only schools that have been
granted permits to offer SHS can be listed.
Homepage ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
Maria and Juan will go to the private school and register as incoming students of Grade 11. They could
have done this late last year during early registration. They can still do it now.
When Maria and Juan actually start studying in the school, the school will list their names in the SHSVMS. (Of course, there are several data items that need to be uploaded. There are also, despite
digitalization, some pieces of paper to be filled in.)
In the first semester of the academic year, DepEd will send electronically the first half of the voucher
amount per student to the school. The second and last installment will be sent in the second semester.
It is that simple. The school does all the work of enrolling the students and claiming the voucher amounts.
Now, how much is a voucher worth?
It all depends on where the private school is located.
If the school is in the National Capital Region (NCR), the full value is P22,500 per student per year.
Students that are already ESC beneficiaries (as I explained in a previous column) will be assigned only 80
percent of that value (or P18,000). Students going to SUCs or LUCs (again, as I explained previously)
will be assigned only 50 percent of that value (or P11,250).
Schools in highly urbanized cities outside NCR will get a full value of P20,000 per student. (You can
compute for the corresponding 80 percent and 50 percent).

Schools in places that are not highly urbanized will get a full value of P17,500 per student. (Again, you
can compute for the lower percentages.)
What is a highly urbanized city (HUC)? According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), an HUC
has at least 200,000 inhabitants (as certified by the National Statistics Office) and earns at least P50
million a year.
According to the PSA, there are 33 HUCs as of the end of 2015: Angeles, Bacolod, Baguio, Butuan,
Cagayan de Oro, Caloocan, Cebu, Davao, General Santos, Iligan, Iloilo, Lapu-Lapu, Las Pias, Lucena,
Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Mandaue, Manila, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Olongapo,
Paraaque, Pasay, Pasig, Puerto Princesa, Quezon City, San Juan, Tacloban, Taguig, Valenzuela, and
Zamboanga. (Notice that all of the cities in Metro Manila are also HUCs. These cities are classified as
being in NCR rather than belonging to the category of the HUCs.)
Note that the voucher amount does not depend on where the student is from. If Maria lives in, say, San
Pedro, Laguna (not an HUC), but studies in relatively nearby Las Pias, her private school will get the
full P22,500 (if it does not get ESC support). On the other hand, if Juan (who comes from an HUC school
that does not get any ESC support) goes to a private school in Quezon City that already gets ESC support,
the school will get only 80 percent of the full voucher value (that is, only P18,000).
Since there are over hundreds of thousands of Grade 11 students going to private schools, LUCs, or
SUCs, how can the government figure out all these combinations? Human beings cannot, but computers
can. That is why DepEd (with the help of FAPE-PEAC) has set up a computerized information system.
This concludes my series on the voucher program. If you have any questions, you may direct them to
DepEd.

MINI CRITIQUE By Isagani Cruz (The Philippine Star) | Updated February 11, 2016 - 12:00am
In October 2010, several business groups signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the
Department of Education (DepEd).
The business groups were: Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), Chamber of
Commerce of the Philippine Islands (CCPI), Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), Makati
Business Club (MBC), Philippine Business for Education (PBEd), Philippine Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (PCCI), Semiconductor and Electronics Industries of the Philippines (SEIPI), and the Joint
Foreign Chambers of the Philippines, consisting of American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines,
Australian-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines,
European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the
Philippines, Korean Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, and Philippine Association of
Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters.
The business groups promised to employ graduates of Grade 12 (provided, of course, that these graduates
met the hiring qualifications of individual companies).

In May 2015, another MOA was signed by the same groups.

This MOA reiterated the commitment of the business groups to implement programs to encourage and
influence their members to accept for employment applicants who have completed the new 12-year Basic
Education Program from any private or public school in the Philippines.
On Tuesday, Feb. 16, businoining the earlier groups are German-Philippine Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (GPCCI), Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), and People Management
Association of the Philippines (PMAP). The BPAP has since changed its name to IT and Business
Processing Association of the Philippines (IBPAP).
The new MOA adds three crucial elements to the success of the K to 12 program.
The business groups now will encourage their members (1) to support DepEd in jobs profiling and skills
mapping in areas where the members operate; (2) to partner with the local DepEd offices or specific
schools by providing support and opportunities for work immersion for students, training of teachers, and
use of facilities; and (3) whenever possible, to help the local DepEd and the schools in addressing
resource gaps through donations.
There is no need to explain the third one, because the government cannot completely implement the K to
12 program (or any other program, for that matter) without substantial financial or other types of help
from the private sector.
The first one needs some explanation.
The promise of DepEd that Grade 12 graduates will be employable assumes that these learners would
have been given employable skills. Employable skills, by definition, are the skills that employers want.
DepEd by itself cannot determine what these skills are. Only employers can identify these skills. That is
why companies have to tell DepEd what skills they want.
Republic Act 10533 (the K to 12 Law) has provided for this crucial element of the education reform. In
Section 6, the law commands DepEd to consult business groups in forming the curriculum.
Section 6 reads: There shall be created a curriculum consultative committee chaired by the DepEd
Secretary or his/her duly authorized representative and with members composed of, but not limited to, a
representative each from the CHED, the TESDA, the DOLE, the PRC, the Department of Science and
Technology (DOST), and a representative from the business chambers such as the Information
Technology Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry association. The consultative committee
shall oversee the review and evaluation of the implementation of the basic education curriculum and may
recommend to the DepEd the formulation of necessary refinements in the curriculum.
As of this writing, that committee has not yet been created. DepEd has formulated its Curriculum Guides
without the active input of the business community. (Secretary Armin Luistro FSC has promised to create
the committee before he leaves office.)

The new MOA gives DepEd the network through which it can finally implement this section of the K to
12 law. It will be industry that will now do the listing of employable skills that DepEd can then
incorporate in the curriculum.
The second one commits the groups to dual training. Dual training means that students will spend only
part of their time on campus and most of their time in enterprises or companies.
The Philippine government, in a Joint Declaration of Intent with the Federal Republic of Germany
(signed in Berlin on Sept. 19, 2014), committed to support the promotion of dual, enterprise-based,
practice-oriented education and training (known as dual training) as a key element of educational reform.
That document specified that dual training would be integrated by DepEd into the K to 12 program.
Dual training can succeed only if companies accept high school students and systematically train them to
gain employable skills. The teachers themselves also need to do immersion, if they are to guide their
students properly. (The Commission on Higher Education recently used the same principle in their
campaign to fund college teachers undergoing internship or externship in companies.)
The new MOA ensures that companies will help DepEd in teaching students. Education is too important a
task to be left to educators. It is now a clich to say that it takes a whole village to educate a child. To
educate the next generation of Filipino adults, DepEd needs everyones help, especially that of business
and industry.
ess groups will again sign another MOA with DepEd.