Will adding two more years in basic education really help?

I don't think adding additional two years to basic education will be the prime solution to our education problem. It may be a move to be at par with the other countries but it is not the main issue. The main problem really is lack of education budget. With our present education system, even if there are only 10 years for basic education, there is an extreme lack of teachers, classrooms, textbooks, and other things needed for school. Adding additional years to the education system would only worsen this situation since that would mean we would need even more classrooms, books, and teachers which at present is not yet completely provided.

Hello astreadido. In China, the students have to study for six years in the primary school and six years in the high school, altother 12 years. It has been like this for many years, but in my school years it was only five years in the primary school and four years in the high school, altogether 9 years. I prefer the school years I used to have, no need to stay in school for that many years, but every coin has two sides. Children nowadays learn many more things than we used to due to the longer years at school. Thank you for your discussion, friend.

I am one of the many people who were shocked in disbelief that DepEd was really contemplating of doing this. It will not do any good but instead it will pave way to a more impossibility of acquiring education especially for the poor kids. We are already having difficulties sending our kids to college with even just 10 years in school (primary and secondary), how much more the additional two years before they can step to the collegiate level.I doubt if the less fortunate can even send their kids to highschool. Just think of Rizal's days. Education then takes only months to finish a course but, Rizal was one of the competent physicians during his time. H e was even able to study different languages. H e wasn't a genius, but, the education system then was so focused that it doesn't require a lot of non related (minor) subjects to complete a single course. I hope we can go back to that era when education's focal point was to educate and not to get revenues from the tuition fess....

I am not into the idea of adding two more years to basic education. Aside from the time, money also nowadays really counts a lot. This two years will be a burden to the expenses especially on life of those families below the poverty line. Eight years of basic education, they find it very hard to send there children to schools, and can you imagine if that years will add another 2 more years. Maybe a lot more Filipino children will be out of school youth if that may happen. Why not focus on improving the system, in order to provide the quality education everyone is entitled for. Try to formulate curriculum wherein at the span of 8 years every student will be much equipped with the basic education they need, and for them to be prepared on there college education. Try to conduct surveys, or researches if this propose plan can be a help or another burden to Filipino families.

adding two years on basic education is wont help to raise the quality of education and also not the answer or solution to the problem of deped are facing now.adding 2 years will increase the rate of undergraduate which lead to less jobs opportunity to get hire and also even a student finish this 12years in schooling there is no assurance or guarantee that this student will get hire immediately on a job after graduated. i think it is much better do pay attention on the problem of lack of facility and classroom,teacher,textbook,salary and benefits of the teacher.

An additional two years would mean additional two years of financial burden for the parents...

i think it might actually help our teenagers now... i mean, they will find it useful, really if the added 2 years to them is about practicum, real life situations, and practice and not on the text book context. i mean if it would only be based again on books, it will be of no use... i mean we work alright, but it is entirely different from what we have studied in school. work is totally different, people are different and expectations are of course different too!

kids here in canada have 8 years in the elementary school system and 4 years in highschool, but can return to highschool for the 'victory lap' which is another year in highschool to bring up their marks.

I so agree with you on this. We need to focus more on quality than quantity. I do not see the benefit of adding two more years of education if the same sort of curriculum will be taught.

Very true. I cannot stand our public schools and how inconsistent they are. I in fact pulled my kids out of public school when a teacher told us kids like our daughter 9 she has learning disabilities) don't go to college. This was so inappropriate and was an answer to my asking why they where no longer giving her extra help. According to Federal Standards as long as a child with learning disabilities has a 70% average they do not need help any longer. I asked how she would go to college with scores like that hence my answer. Both my husband and I have disabilities and I have gone to college and he is just now going because of years of teachers and his parents saying he couldn't do it. Worse when I pulled them out and my kids where tested for placement in the cyber school we attend we found out our other daughter was 2 grades behind in reading and a grade ahead in math. according to the school she was sufficient in both! So they ignored her weaknesses and her strengths. Our school systems are a sham and need to be worked over. The problem though is the parents as well. I hear so many complain and when I ask why don't the say something they say they are worried it will be taken out on their kids. First that is illegal and can be dealt with if it happens, second because of that they will leave their children to their own fates of a corrupt school system. Neglect in my book.

Hi astreadido, I work in the school system, and I can tell you that the students are living a nightmare when it come to an overload of homework. I can't imagine the Board of Education is thinking of adding more pressure on these students. Their backpacks are over stuffed with learning materials most every day. The projects are getting more elaborate and the social time is becoming very scarce. Adding two more years to the basic education plan will not help students learn anymore or any better. What I think this will create, are more frustrated students and parents. If a student is retained, he or she will be older that most of the students on the campus, which could lead to all sort of behavior problems developing. What they need are better teachers who are dedicated to teaching all students, regardless of race, language, or neighborhood. More quality school days not more quantity school days, is what is need to be implemented in our school system. If this is not the way things will go, then we will see more dropout students.

I agree that longer years in school does not mean the child will be better educated and mature.I guess more important is the school teach the child to think,to be independent, hardworking,resourcefully and teach with revelent skills which are more important.Those days in my school were are taught to be stupid ask no question and muck up books only.I think that is not good, those days we are taught to pass exams only not to think and be resourcefully.

I am disagree with the idea.In my country is this idea too....but that will not help the students to stay on school.

maybe it should consider country factors. in my country, china ,i think if 2 more years on eduction is useless .for us ,high school ,we only can know the fundamental theories ,but we don't have the practice capicity a lot ,only you get into university or college ,you can develop yourself in certain area according to your favorite i am agree with improving the quality not the quantity on years , and add more practice curriculum or some optional course(emphasize on practice by hand not only the theory course) ,now we need practice ability ,not the theory ,for example ,if you are a boss , you will choose a skillful employee but or a person with perfect theory but has no practice ability? in the rapid pace society ,if we want to survive, we must improve ourself ability especially the practice ability(of course ,we have the basic theory concept)

It could help since ours is the shortest in Asia (perhaps the world); the question is what subjects are they going to teach? Students should also have a voice in curriculum development like as to what subjects they wanted to learn. How about teaching them on how to invest e.g. entrepreneurship, stock market, etc and this could be taught by using simulations. We are more focused on being an employee rather than being an employer.

Viviabysmal is right.It is the quality that we should be after, not the length.

I also don't agree with Dep Ed's idea, but one thing I'm curious about are the facts/data/evidence that led them to their decision. Do they have crucial information that proves that all problems in Philippine education can be addressed by simply adding two years of schooling? What particular problems are they really addressing, and are these the only solutions available? If they are still citing the correlation between economic development and years of schooling in other countries, can they provide evidence to say that their situation is applicable to ours, given our current resources and political capabilities? My point it, if they can undoubtedly prove the benefits of adding two years in schooling with solid research, then it's not an altogether illogical move. (Of course, the practicalities of such a matter is still subject to scrutiny.)

Well education is really a serious matter for our government to address. However let us also try to see the plight of the students who go to school. There are only a few individuals who really wants to go to school. It all boils down to attitude! It will be useless if there is a 7 years elementary and 5 years high school if drop out right will be bigger than previous years.