STUDENTS on Tuesday slammed President Benigno Aquino III and Department of Education for implementing the K-to-12 program that they described as “a crime” and for allegedly trying to cover up the “horrors and chaos” caused by it.
“To privatize basic education through K-to-12 is a crime, League of Filipino Students secretary-general Aries Gupit told a press conference.
“To allow around a million students to drop out in secondary school is another crime. To defend these crimes is another echelon of evilness.
“DepEd and the Aquino government are desperately trying to cover up the horrors and chaos caused by the K to 12 program.”
Gupit said the Education Department was continuing to implement the K-to-12 program even if it knew that 300,000 to 400,000 students might drop out of school.
“We heard it from the horse’s mouth that hundreds of thousands of the youth will be displaced because of the additional two years in high school,” Gupit said.
“But with all the reports coming in, the number of dropouts might even reach a million or more. It is even more loathsome that [Education Secretary Armin) Luistro and Aquino seem [to approve] the idea.”
Gupit said the K-to-12 program was a defunct program.
“DepEd has gone delusional when they insisted that yesterday is the best school opening and that everything is falling into places,” Gupit said.
“The cruel reality is far from the fictions they conjured. Yes, everything is falling—falling into pieces as this government shattered the dreams and future of a million students.”
Gupit said some of the reports they received included the following:
• Tondo High School where only 89 students were officially enrolled in grade 11 out of 300 grade 10 completers. Students held classes in the open areas while seated on the floor due to lack of classrooms
• E. Rodriguez High School where only 200 students were enrolled compared to the 600 expected Senior High School enrollees
Paez High School where only 300 slots were available for grade 11 students out of 500 grade 10 completers. Senior High School students were not able to start their classes because their building was still under construction
Batasan National High School where out of 2,000 Grade 10 completers, only 89 students were enrolled in their Senior High School Program.
Gupit said these these cases illustrated the failure of the K-to-12 program to resolve the problems in basic education.
“DepEd’s pronouncements show that they are outright anti-student, anti-people,” Gupit said.