Over 6,000 join first batch of Grade 11 students

MANILA, Philippines – Instead of going directly to college after their high school graduation, over 6,000 students are enrolled this school year as the very first batch of Grade 11 students in the country.

According to the Department of Education (DepEd), there are 6,121 students nationwide enrolled as Grade 11 students in school year 2012-2013.

These students are the ‘guinea pigs’ of the proposed additional years in the basic education system under DepEd’s K to 12 program.

Based on DepEd’s plan, the grade 11 will be added in the education system by 2016. However, 32 schools nationwide are tapped to develop and model curriculums for grade 11 in their system this school year.

Here’s a list of schools that are modelling curriculums for grade 11 for school year 2012-2013:

The biggest population of Grade 11 students comes from the University of Makati (UMak), wherein 4,973 are currently enrolled in its pilot program. UMak president Tomas Lopez said that it was Education secretary Armin Luistro who personally asked him to do a pilot project for the Senior High School levels.

Lopez explained that in order to get Grade 11 students, they did not accept college freshman for this school year. “I told them: if you want to study in UMak (as a college freshman), take Grade 11,” he said. He explained that he was surprised with the big turnout of enrollees despite negative initial reactions from both students and parents regarding taking up Grade 11.

All school resources that should have been allotted for first year college students in UMak, in this case, were diverted instead to Grade 11 students.

In the case of Rizal Experimental Station and Pilot School of Cottages Industries (RESPSCI), a technical vocational school in Pasig City, school administrators decided to open only 25 slots for Grade 11 students. Head teacher Marites Romen explained that they interviewed students interested to take up Grade 11, and accepted only those that they know would have no money top enroll to college.

How the Grade 11 works

Under the proposed K to 12 program, students have to undergo 12 years of elementary and secondary education before going to college. It will follow the K-6-4-2 Model, wherein students are required to undergo kindergarten, six years in elementary (grades 1 to 6), four years in junior high school (grades 7 to 10), and two years in senior high school (grades 11 to 12).

When students reach senior high school, they have to choose among the specializations to be offered by schools: Science and Technology, Music and Arts, Agriculture and Fisheries, Sports, and Business and Entrepreneurship.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) will design the academic portion of the curriculum, while the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) will design the technical portion.

Upon finishing grade 12 program, these students will be receiving certificates for the program of their choice. This is aside from the high school diploma that they will receive after finishing grade 10.

According to the government primer, this aims to “provide time for students to consolidate acquired academic skills and competencies relevant to the job market.”

No need for college?

Vice president Jejomar Binay said that the inclusion of grades 11 and 12 in the curriculum discredits the usual notion that college is the only way to attain a good future.

In his message, which was read by Lopez in the launching of K to 12 program in UMak in August, he said that “the quality of college has dropped” as evident in dropping passing rates in licensure exams and other assessment tests.

With the addition of specialized subjects in two years, he said that students “will have advantage of both skills and better appreciation of their interests.”

“This promotes the idea that not all high school graduates need to go to college, and the idea that all need not go immediately to college after high school,” he said.

TESDA chairman Joel Villanueva added that students “need not to go to college to look for jobs.”

DepEd is still coordinating with TESDA and CHED for the transition plan for the senior high school. Also, the 32 schools that pilot Grade 11 curriculums this year will have to submit a year-end report to DepEd. – Rappler.com