The Philippines is undergoing a major overhaul to bring it in line with education systems worldwide, starting with the K-12 sector. This change to domestic education policy has far-reaching consequences and is important for international educational institutions to consider when looking for potential new student recruitment markets. With the new 12-year curriculum in place, future Filipino students will be ready and better equipped to join overseas universities at the undergraduate level. And with a K-12 student population of 20.
67 million, which will only increase over the next 20 years. Philippines is shaping up to be an attractive recruitment destination.According to Aquino, the K+12 program will pave the way for an ever brighter future for young Filipinos by equipping them with basic education up to international standards.The goal of the new curriculum is to give Filipino students enough time to master skills and concepts so that they are ready for tertiary education when the time comes.Kindergarten was previously optional, and advocates of the K-12 programme argue that students who went to kindergarten are better prepared for primary education than those who did not.
In addition, the K-12 programme “provides for the use of the ‘mother tongue‘ language as the medium of instruction for students in the basic and lower years to facilitate and expedite learning.”This fabulous interactive map of all public schools in the country could be a useful tool in planning a recruitment strategy. It contains data on the school’s budget, enrolment statistics, education indicators, number of teaching personnel, furniture, textbooks, classrooms, plus the water and power supply of some 45,000 schools nationwide.10 Point Education AgendaThe move to the K-12 policy comes as part of the 10 Point Education Agenda which was set out by the current government administration. The K-12 Basic Education Program, universal kindergarten and instruction in mother-tongue languages are but three of the ten points Aquino’s administration want to implement in order to improve the overall quality of education in Filipino schools.The other seven points include:Establish the Madaris Education as a sub-system in the current education system; Make every child a reader by Grade 1; Improve science and mathematics; Expand government assistance to private education; Better textbooks; Build more schools in cooperation with local government units (LGUs); Re-introduce technical and vocational education in public high schools.
