Say hello to K+12

CRITICS of the K+12 educational system can object and complain all they want, but it looks like the national government, ready or not, is determined to roll out the new program by June.

Reservations over the K+12 is perfectly understandable given the current state of the public school system with, among other problems, its lack of basic facilities such as chairs, tables and classrooms as well as the insufficient number of teachers, most of whom are burdened by a very un-ideal set up of having as many as 60 students in one class. Resistance to the K+12 is also based on the argument that poor families are as it is finding it difficult to send all the children to basic education with six years for elementary and four in high school.

But on the side of the Department of Education, the K+12 looks at the global picture and considers the long-term impact of having a hopefully more learned population through a more comprehensive basic education.

The implementation of the K+12 will not be abrupt. It will start in June with just the five-year olds who will now have to enroll in kindergarten and the elementary graduates in March going into the new 7^th grade. The program deserves a chance. And local government units could contribute to its success by putting giving education higher priority through budget allocations for school facilities and the hiring of more teachers to augment those under the DepEd plantilla. The provincial government has already set a good example by sponsoring a conference held last week to further initiate the education sector in Pangasinan on the implications of the K+12.

It will surely be a painful transition in the education system, but it could prove to be a gain for the future generation.

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‘Only death’

IN his boldest statement yet after he got impeached on December 14 by the House of Representatives, Renato C. Corona said that only death can stop him from defending himself in the ongoing Senate impeachment trial.

Corona, the first Chief Justice to face impeachment on charges of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust and graft and corruption, made the vow in public over a television interview, just hours before Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile presided over the first day of proceedings of what is now known hereabouts as The Trial of the Century.

“Only death can stop me from defending myself against my enemies,” Corona said. “I am innocent of all the charges being levelled against me.”

In God’s name, let’s wish him luck.

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