“Admittedly, it’s a failure.” These were the words of an elementary educator from Quezon province, who echoed the earlier pronouncements of a high school teacher in Marinduque that the K-to-12 program of the Department of Education (DepEd) has not proven beneficial to students.

“For me, the K-12 standard for Grade 1 is low, especially in reading. Elementary students can even go to junior high school even if they cannot read,” said Mary Antonette Antig Royo, an elementary school teacher at Don Guillermo Eleazar Elementary School in Guinayangan, Quezon.

The subjects in the old curriculum before K-12 were Mother Tongue, Filipino, English, Mathematics, Araling Panlipunan, MAPEH (Music, Arts, PE, Health) and Edukasyon sa Pagpapahalaga.

Further, Royo said if a Grade 1 student learned to identify the sound without learning to write or read the particular word being taught, the student may be okayed by the teacher for advancement to the next grade level.

“Then when the student reaches the next level, that is only the time he learns reading and writing, aside from the other tasks assigned, crowding the curriculum and making him lose focus. This is the reason why students fail,” she said.

“But we cannot give them failing grades because of the voluminous explanations that we have to file at the Division Office to show why the student failed. So, instead of doing that, teachers pass the students, that is why the quality of education nowadays, I can say, is substandard,” she said.

On Monday, a high school teacher in Buenavista town, Marinduque, Teacher “Gina,” lamented that the K-12 program has been producing non-readers and students who do not deserve to go to high school.

As teachers nationwide are pressured to let slow learners reach the secondary level, the country has remained at the bottom of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) ranking, Gina said.

Teacher Antonette said the K-12 program should be revisited and revamped, especially the push for reading and writing among elementary students.

She averred that the Matatag curriculum, which was rolled out during the tenure of resigned DepEd secretary and Vice President Sara Duterte, was a dependable curriculum for students.

In 2012, the Philippines launched the K–12 Program, a comprehensive reform of the basic education curriculum, as back then the Philippines was catching up to global standards in secondary education and attaching a high value to kindergarten.

The program became law or Republic Act 10533, the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2012, authored by Senator Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, who has just been appointed education secretary by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

In a separate interview, Senior Education Program Specialist Erlinda Leva at the DepEd Central Office maintained that teachers do the best they can for learners to be able to read, but pointed out too many distractions for students.

“Learners are having difficulty or learning disabilities because of so many factors. Poor nutrition contributes to learning disability, and lack of sleep and rest as some students work,” Leva said.

“Games on gadgets and cellular phones are also a big problem, while some students rely on Chat GPT and Google for their assignments. The teachers and the curriculum should not be blamed,” she said.

Regarding the K-12 curriculum, Leva said that every program was carefully crafted and underwent several processes like consultations, research, and writings with learning experts.

“The central office, regional and division offices’ learning area specialists, subject teachers, professors, and stakeholders were involved in crafting the curriculum. So there is no way that reading and writing will be eliminated from the current and upcoming curriculum. It’s integrated there,” she said.

In the shaping paper of the Matatag curriculum shared by Leva with DAILY TRIBUNE, it was stated that Language, Reading, and Literacy shall be offered from Grade 1 and shall primarily develop the learners’ “oracy” and literacy.

“They shall serve as the basis in transitioning the learners’ oracy for literacy to Filipino and English. Oracy for literacy is the ability to use relevant oral language elements like phonological awareness, vocabulary, and listening capacity to develop basic or beginning literacy. Basic literacy or the skills used for the initial learning of reading and writing is developed from the third to the fourth quarters of Grade 1,” the paper said.

Leva furnished a copy of an old curriculum, or the 2002 Basic Education Curriculum, consisting of learning areas such as English, Filipino, Mathematics, Science and Health, Makabayan, Sibika at Kultura, Hekasi, EPP, and MSEP.

With students relying on Google and other applications to do their assignments, school libraries are not being used by students.

Lawmakers are reestablishing libraries through proposed House Bill 1582, or the Philippine Online Library Act, filed by Tingog Partylist Representatives Yedda Marie Romualdez and Jude Acidre, with a Senate version authored by Senator Win Gatchalian.

“The bill has been sent to the DepEd Central Office and the review is very positive,” Leva said.

Under the Philippine Online Library Act, the DepEd is mandated to create digitized copies of all textbooks and reference books it deems necessary for the education of public elementary and secondary learners, which will be compiled in the proposed Philippine Online Library.

The online library shall be jointly managed by the DepEd and the Department of Information and Communications Technology, while the DepEd and the National Library of the Philippines shall have joint custody of the digitized copies of textbooks.