K to 12 Basic Education Program

Some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

As of May 12, 2011
A. K to 12 concerns
1. When will the K to 12 program be implemented?

Universal Kindergarten will start by SY 2011- 2012.

The new Grade 1 and Grade 7 curriculum will be implemented on SY 2012-2013.

The first batch of Grade 11 will be on SY 2016-2017.

The first batch of K to 12 graduates will be on SY 2018.

2. Where will the additional two years be included?

The two years will be added after the current four-year high school program. This will be called Senior
High School.
3. Why are we implementing 12 years of basic education and not 11 years?

A 12-year program is found to be the adequate period for learning under basic education and is
acceptable among other countries as requirement for employment abroad.

Other countries like Singapore have 11 years of compulsory education but have, depending to the
track they take, 12 to 14 years of pre-university education.
4. Will this address the dropout problem?

The enhanced curriculum could help address the problem, but were not claiming that it will eradicate
the problem entirely.

Those who drop out because they are not able to cope with the pace of the lesson might be better able
to cope and perform because of the decongested curriculum.
5. Why is the K to 12 program better than the current program?

K to 12 offers a more balanced approach to learning that will enable children to acquire lifelong
learning skills (as against a congested curriculum).

It is pro-student, pro-family and pro-poor because it takes their needs into consideration and provides
for these by freeing parents of the burden of having to spend for college just to make their children
employable.
6. What would be the assurance that K to 12 graduates will be employed?

DepEd has entered into an agreement with business organizations and local and foreign chambers of
commerce and industries that graduates of K to 12 will be considered for employment.

There will be a matching of competency requirements and standards so 12-year basic education
graduates qualify with the requirements of the employers.
7. How will K to 12 help in ensuring employment for our graduates?

The K to 12 basic education will be sufficient to prepare students for work and for higher education.

The curriculum will be equivalent to international standards and will give graduates better
opportunities to be gainfully employed.

The curriculum will strengthen the innate talent of the Filipino student.

The curriculum will be more practical.

8. How will the K to 12 program help working students (college level)?

DepEd is in collaboration with CHED to provide more opportunities for working students to attend
classes.

We are working with the Department of Labor to ensure that jobs will be available to K to 12 graduates
and that consideration will given to working students.
9. How will the K to 12 program helps students intending to pursue higher education?

The K to 12 program will better prepare student for higher education. The enhanced curriculum will
ensure mastery of concepts and thus help increase chances of college completion and produce better
professionals.
B. Transition Management and Private Schools
10. What will happen to the college and universities during the 2-year gap?

There are discussions on using college and private school facilities and teachers to teach senior high
school students.

DepEd, CHED, and TESDA are aware of this concern and are discussing options to address transition
management issues.

11. Will senior high schools be implemented in existing high schools or will new schools be built?

There is no need to build new high schools.

Existing schools will be used for the additional 2-year program as well as new classrooms that will be
built.

We are also working with CHED and TESDA to see how we can respond to the additional space
requirement. We are exploring the possibility of using their existing resources to help us respond to
the requirement of the additional 2 years.
12. Is K to 12 required for private schools as well? Will the same implementation timeline apply to
private schools?

Since private schools follow the DepEd curriculum, they will also implementing the 12-year education
program.

The timeline followed by DepEd was formulated by the Steering committee whose other members are
private school organizations. This timeline can therefore be adopted by private schools.
13. How will the college and tech-voc courses be adjusted due to K to 12 curriculum? Will
adjustments be (made) on time for the first graduates of K to 12?

TESDA and CHED are part of the committee that is working on the new program.

While there are tech-voc courses under TESDA, DepEd also offers tech-voc courses though its tech-voc
high schools. These schools implement TESDA-certified subjects and students take test administered
by TESDA for their competency certification. The curriculum for these courses will be considered in
Levels 9 to 12.
14. What is the role of the (a) barangay and (b) NGOs in K to 12?

Help in the community information dissemination about the program

Take part in the K to 12 consultations to provided inputs of the curriculum and the implementation of
the program.

Share lessons learned from other education projects.

C. Curriculum
15. What will happen to the curriculum? What subjects will be added and removed?

Decongest the current curriculum to allow for mastery of learning.

Offer basic education as a continuum from Kinder to Grade 12.

In Grades 11 and 12, it will strengthen core subjects like math, Science and English; It will also offer
specialization in the students areas of interest.

Right now, a technical working group has formulated the new curriculum framework and curriculum
standards. They will now proceed to develop the learning competencies and learning plans. Experts in
CHED, TESDA and other stakeholders will then validate all this. After this, the changes in terms of
subjects added, removed and enhanced will be clearer.
16. What specializations are offered for senior high school?

We are currently looking at providing specializations in skills that are needed in various areas agriculture, aquaculture, civil works, furniture design, welding, etc.

We are also considering specializations in performing arts and sports.

Schools will be identified to provide specialized courses.

We are considering setting up regional specialized schools.

17. Will students choose specializations or will this be determined by assessment?

Both, an aptitude test will be given at Grade 9.

Results could be the basis for students choose subjects they want to specialize in.
18. For senior high school , what will happen if majority of our students want to specialize in
agriculture and only one is interested to take math or academics?
How will this be
accommodated?

This is an extreme situation.

The areas of specialization will be offered accordingly to the resources in the locality and needs of the
students.
19. What will happen to special schools such as high school for the arts, trade schools, etc?

Based on the initial plan of the Steering Committee, these schools may be converted to centers for
learning.
20. What will happen to multi-grade teaching?

Multi-grade teaching is particularly used in elementary schools.

The curriculum study will consider this specialized teaching method as we formulate an enhanced
curriculum.

21. ALS age requirement is only 16 years old for the HS equivalency test. Will this change to 18?
Students might want to turn ALS if they can save 2 years of formal school education costs.

The ALS is based on the existing 10-year basic education curriculum. When we follow a new 12-year
curriculum, ALS will likewise be revised.
D. Kindergarten
22. Is Kindergarten a pre-requisite for entering Grade 1?

The law mandating Kindergarten is still in the Senate. Thus, Kindergarten is not yet a pre-requisite to
Grade 1. However, once the law is passed, Kindergarten will be a requirement for Grade 1.

Now, DepEd is implementing Universal Kindergarten that institutionalizes Kindergarten in all public
schools. Every 5-year-old is encouraged to take Kindergarten to be able transition better in Grade 1.
Summer Kindergarten is also offered for those who are incoming Grade 1 students this school year.
23. Is there an overlap between DSWD Day Care program and DepEd Kindergarten?

There is no overlap. DSWD Day Care takes care of children aged 4 and below. On the other hand,
DepEd take cares of children aged 5 and up. The DepEd Kindergarten program is for five-year-old
children.
24. Should schools now prepare permanent records for Kindergarten students?

Yes. While the rating of students in Kindergarten is not academically driven, a good measure of the
childs ability is needed for future learning interventions.
25. Who is in-charge of the Kindergarten teacher compensation? LGU or DepEd?

DepEd is the main agency that employs and pays Kindergarten teachers.

There are LGUs that wish to help in the Kindergarten program and provide salaries for Kindergarten
teachers.
E. Teachers
26. Will teachers be burdened by additional teaching load due to K to 12 program?

There will be no additional workload due to the K to 12 program. The Magna Carta for Public School
teachers states that teachers should only teach up to six hours a day.

The decongested K to 12 curriculum will allow teachers to ensure mastery and depth of learning and
be able to focus on areas they are experts on.
27. Is there a salary increase for the teacher due to the K to 12 program?

There will be a teacher salary increase due to Salary Standardization Law.

There is no salary increase due to K to 12 program because there will be no additional teaching load or
additional teaching hours.
28. How will teachers be prepared for the K to 12 program?

Teachers will be given sufficient training to implement this program.

We are coordinating with CHED and TEls to prepare education students.

There will be a pilot test to ensure the preparedness of the teachers.

29. Who will be teachers for Grades 11-12? What will be their qualifications?

Training will be provided for teachers who will teach Grades 11 and 12.

We are currently assessing whether to hire new teacher or train current teachers to teach Grades 11 to
12.

We are also studying the possibility of CHED and TESDA teachers teaching Grades 11 and 12 during
the transition period.
F.

Budget
30. How close is DepEd in closing the resource gaps (i.e. classroom, teachers)?

We have about five years to close the resource gaps.

Aside from the increasing budget of DepEd , we are also enjoying the support from local governments,
private partners, and donor countries.

31. Currently, DepEd is lacking in resources to address its current problems. With K to 12 and its
added resource needs, how will this be addressed?

One scheme is to front load all needed capital investments, take a loan from government and private
banks based on annual budget and pay the amortization yearly.

We also have the support of the local government units and private partners in terms of infrastructure.
o Private partners can donate though our Adopt-a-School program that provides them 150% tax
rebate for their contribution.
o LGUs can follow the front-loading scheme using their Special Education Fund as collateral and
the allocation as amortization.
o For teacher items, LGUs also help by hiring qualified teachers for our public schools. LGUs pay
to their salaries.
32. How will the shortage in classrooms, teachers and instructional material be addressed?

The shortages will be addressed before the additional year in basic education.

With the implementation of the new curriculum, the shortages in teachers, classrooms and
instructional materials will be addressed.

The additional classrooms, teachers and instructional materials due to K to 12 program will be needed
in SY 2016-2017. There is enough time to prepare for this.

The LGUs and the private sector are our partners in addressing these shortages.
33. How about the additional cost to parents?

Grades 11 and 12 will be offered free in public schools.

Education is an investment for the future.

We are in coordinating with CHED on the possibility of decreasing the number of the years for certain
courses in college. We are in coordination with TESDA to align the curriculum for those planning to
take technical and vocational education.

K to 12 graduates will have better opportunities for work, better ability to help their families and to
shoulder expenses for higher education.

The private internal rate of return for students taking the additional two years of senior high school is
estimated at 16% -17% for the average Filipino household 20%-21% for the bottom 20% of the
population (Orbeta, 2011).
34. How much will the K to 12 program cost the government?

The actual budget estimate will depend on the institutional arrangements with key partners like CHED,
TESDA, LGUs, Congress and other stakeholders.

The Department has estimated the projected budget requirements for the senior high school (Grades
11 to 12) program. Initial estimates for pure provision of senior high school are at 33Billion Philippine
pesos (Manasan 2011).
35. Wont this be another avenue for corruption? How can you ensure that the funds will be
released, used properly?

The Department fully supports the Aquino administrations drive against corruption.

We will regularly package and disseminate information on agency budgets, bidding and procurement
documents and SALNs of senior government officials, to ensure transparency and accountability.

It is also our best interest to ensure that funds and resources are not lost to corruption.
G. ARMM Concerns
36. Will the K to 12 program be applicable in ARMM?

Yes. ARMM education officials are optimistic that the program will help in the development of ARMM
and Mindanao.
37. What will happen to the Madrasah curriculum in ARMM?

There will be a study on how the additional two years will affect Madrasah education and what needs
to be done to align it with the new curriculum.
38. What is the policy of DepEd to reduce the occurrence of the teacher kidnapping on ARMM?

We are gearing to organize an Education Summit for ARMM to discuss this concern.

Our initial discussions with ARMM explore assigning Muslim teachers to ARMM schools.
39. Given the situation in the conflict areas, is it possible to make the non-eligible natives
(Muslim) to become full-pledged teachers?

This will have to be discussed during the ARMM Educational Summit along with the Civil Service and
PRC representatives.