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PNoys K to 12: anti-nationalist, lacks quality, additional burden; SCRAP it!

Translation of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Critique of and Call to Action Against PNoys K to 12 Program originally written in Filipino (the original version is incorporated in this document) 10 July 2012 First of all, PNoys Kto12 Program is not based on a comprehensive and in-depth analysis and study of the true and concrete fundamental problems of our countrys educational and social system. PNoys Kto12 Program offers no comprehensive, in-depth and high-quality solution to the countrys pressing and festering educational and social problems. It wont bring any good, be it short-term or long-term relief, to teachers, to the youth and to the Filipino people. The Kto12 Program is just a segment of the long list of the current administrations pro-foreign and anti-people programs, the most recent in a series of bogus reform schemes and failed experiments on the education system of successive presidents, from the dictator Ferdinand Marcos to the sitting President PNoy. A. PNoys Kto12: For foreign business and not for the well-being of the Filipino nation! 1. The compulsory and irresponsible implementation of PNoys Kto12 program follows the dictates of foreign monopoly banks, corporations and governments in the field of education. 2. Through PNoys Kto12 program, the education system is tailor-made to suit the needs of foreign multinational banks and companies. This is implemented within the framework of neoliberalism and imperialist globalization which have been time and again proven bankrupt and antidevelopment. 3. PNoys Kto12 program is a concrete and direct imposition of Americas Washington Accord, Europes Bologna Process, APEC and ASEAN mutual recognition projects and Asias SEAMEOInnotech, in the name of trade liberalization, growing global market, and international standards & agreements. 4. In PNoys Kto12 program, the Philippine education system would be further utilized to train the Filipino youth as part of the infinite source of cheap and docile semi-skilled and skilled laborers,

and the ever-increasing number of the unemployed or underemployed laborers who are forced by conspiring local and foreign banks and corporations to accept bargain wages. 5. PNoys Kto12 would only serve to continue the labor export policy as a short-sighted solution to the humungous problem of unemployment and as a sign of desperate government dependence on the dollar remittances of the ever-increasing number of OFWs. 6. Hence, PNoys Kto12 in basic education merely serves the needs and whims of the global labor market. 7. One particular objective of PNoys Kto12 is the imposition of two years more in high school, so that the high school graduates at the age of 18 could right away become part of the huge labor force reserve of the unemployed or underemployed. The Kto12 emphasizes specialization or technical-vocational education in the last two years of high school to churn out skilled and semiskilled laborers for the needs of the foreign corporations and the foreign labor market. 8. Instead of providing college education to students, PNoys Kto12 is aimed at making young high school graduates qualified and skilled at a younger age as laborers, thereby causing an increase in the ranks of the unemployed or underemployed, further bringing down the wage of workers, and push young citizens to work abroad as OFWs. 9. PNoys government has no plan to provide long-term funding for state colleges and universities. PNoy would want people to believe that with his Kto12, college education is just a luxury for the rich citizens and that poor people can do away with and not a human right that must be made accessible to all. PNoys government is explicitly abandoning the state responsibility of offering opportunities to all young citizens through free and holistic education at all levels at least up to college. 10. Hence, PNoys Kto12 would continue the more than two-decade state policy of decreasing the budget for state universities and colleges (SUCs), in consonance with the Marcos dictatorships Education Act of 1982. 11. Instead of protecting and upholding the right of all Filipino citizens to have quality education at all levels, Kto12 further favors the privatization and commercialization of education, and the proliferation of profit-oriented private education institutions and corporations whose greed is so insatiable as mirrored by their millions of profits from TOFI or tuition & other fees increase. 12. PNoys Kto12 is a grand illusion and deception aimed at concocting the lie that high school graduates could easily get jobs after studying Technology and Livelihood Education or TLE subjects such as agricultural/fishery arts, industrial arts, home economics, and information

& communications technology amidst the miserable national situation: millions of Filipino citizens are jobless, agriculture is so technologically-deficient and hence generally backward, and there are no basic industries to speak of. 13. The countrys economy survives merely because of its dependence on the dollar remittances of OFWs, the ever-increasing foreign and local debts, and the continuous export of raw materials and semi-processed products, and importation of consumer, agricultural, commercial and industrial goods. 14. As proof of the countrys anemic economy, engineers, technicians, computer scientists and other experts in the field of science and technology have no place in our ecnomy where the most common opportunity to work is either at the call centers or overseas. Even our nurses and caregivers find it difficult to get jobs here. 15. Here are additional proofs that PNoy's Kto12 is anti-nationalist: The study hours for Social Sciences have been shortened and the seven related themes that guide the whole Social Sciences curriculum are directly sourced from the themes provided by the National Council for Social Studies in the Estados Unidos (National Council for the Social Studies, National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies: Introduction, http://www.ncss.org/standards/introduction Accessed 11 October 2011) The K to 12 Kindergarten Curriculum relies heavily on American references too such as:

Copple, Carol and Bredecamp, Sue. eds. Developmentally Appropriate Practices in Early Childhood Program: Serving Children from Birth through age Eight., USA: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), 2009. Marjorie et al. Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum: Best Practices in Early Childhood Education. USA: Pearson Education Inc., 2011

The value of and study hours for the English language subject have been increased. Indeed, one of the aims of the Kindergarten Law or RA 10157 is to strengthen the childs understanding of English, which is the official language. B. PNoys Kto12 lacks quality and is deficient in many things! 1. PNoys forcible and irresponsible implementation of the Kto12 program is not serious and is just a ploy to gain media mileage so as to boast of so-called reforms and performance in the field of education. Indeed, the Kto12 program is just an election slogan of PNoy and Mar Roxas Liberal Party that is still languishing in the archives of Congress as a bill yet to be passed.

2. PNoys Kto12 has no legal basis, no funding, no prepared entire curriculum, ni textbooks, no module and other instructional materials, and no sufficienct training of teachers. 3. The partial implementation of the Kinder Program in SY 2011-12 as Phase-1 of PNoys Kto12 is a disaster and failure. The Department of Education and Malacanang Palace forcibly and irresponsibly implemented what it labeled as the universal kinder program despite the facy that it has no enabling law; no good curriculum; no prior study for its implementation; no training and no preparation; no sufficient number of teachers, classrooms, chairs, textbooks and sanitation facilities; and no funds. 4. Hence, the more than 1 million kinder students can be likened to chicks left in the cold by their mother hen, and thousands of volunteer teachers who were made to sign contracts to receive a remuneration of merely P3000 per class as teaching allowance, suffered miserably as the releases of their allowances are delayed. Such amount is merely a quarter of the monthly wage as computed using the Minimum Wage Law. 4. What quality would PNoys Kto12 offer but the miserable situation of its kindergarten component: a class-size topping 60; most volunteer teachers without license (did not take or failed the Licensure Examination for Teachers/LET) teach 2 to 4 shifts from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm only to receive a mere P3,000 per class or shift in a month (equivalent to merely P100 per day, far below the current daily minimum wage of P446 in the National Capital Region/NCR); worse, the volunteer kinder teachers would only receive their small allowance after 6 months or even more than a year of service. 5. The implementation of Kto12s Phase 2 this SY 2012-2013 would surely be a recipe for more failure and disaster. The Palace and the Department of Education have bragged anew on its irresponsible, arbitrary and railroaded implementation of the K to 12, and aside from the kindergarten level, teachers and students of Grades 1 and 7 (first year high school) would become its hapless victims. Even before the school year started, widespread chaos and confusion among teachers ensued due to the arbitrary implementation of Kto12s Phase 2 partly because the Kto12 trainors training was initiated only in the last week of April (a week or so before the opening of classes). 6. Hence, when classes opened in June and until now, chaos, confusion, disorientation and expressions of disgust on PNoys Kto12 are still widespread among teachers, students and parents. A myriad of questions remain unanswered thus furthe fuelling the current state of confusion and chaos in Philippine education.

Why does the government insist on implementing the Kto12 despite the lack of an enabling law? Where is the entire/whole Kto12 curriculum? Where are the textbooks, modules and prototype lesson plans? Why did the government start implementing Kto12s Phase 2 in Grade 1 when the mandatory universal kinder program was formally inaugurated only this SY 2012-2013 as PNoy signed it into law just last January 2012? Why did the government started implementing Kto12s Phase 2 in Grade 7 or 1st year junior high school when the elementary graduates who would become the incoming first year have been taught using the old grade school curriculum? Why did the government leap into implementing Kto12 in high school when there is no whole/entire curriculum for the elementary level yet? Whats with the governments mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE)? How will the teachers use this as a framework? How will teachers teach? Whats with the confusing spiral progression approach in teaching Math and Science? Why did the government reduced teaching hours for the Social Sciences? What would senior high school encompass? If the general education subjects would be taught in the two years of senior high school, what subjects would remain in college? Who would teach the students of the senior high school would college instructors and professors who would be asked to teach them be required to take the LET first? What will happen in SY 2016-17 and SY 2017-18 when it is assumed that there would be no senior high school graduates yet, and hence, there would be no college freshmen? Would the Kto12 be mandatory for private schools? What would be the curriculum for college? These myriad of unanswered questions, if answered at all by the Department of Education, would only bring more and more questions, sow chaos, confusion, disorientation and discontent because these all the more proves that the Kto12 program was being implemented in an arbitrary, irresponsible and railroaded way despite the fact that for this scheme, the government lacks an enabling law, funds, content/curriculum and preparation! 7. The crisis of shortages in the number of teachers, classrooms, chairs, textbooks, instructional materials, water & sanitation facilities, etc. are still unresolved and these problems are further worsened by the arbitrary and irresponsible implementation of PNoys Kto12. Based on the latest data of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), the basic education sector in the country has the following shortages in this academic year: 132,483 teachers; 97,685 classrooms; and 153,709 sanitation facilities.

This year, the Aquino regime allotted P239 billion for DepEd an amount equivalent to merely P7 per day for each student. Such amount is enough to cover only 27% of the need for new classrooms; 20% of the needed chairs; and 12% of the shortage of teachers. The funds for the implementation of the Kto12 program around P100 billion are not yet included in the said DepEd budget. From the latest National Budget Memorandum 113 of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), DepEds budget ceiling for the year 2013 is pegged at P259.25 billion but the needs of DepEd for 2013 would at least reach P321.91 billion. Where would the Aquino regume get the P78.95 billion not covered by the national budget, is a big puzzle that remains to be solved. There are indications that the government would want to resolve such budget gap by increasing the role of the private sector in education through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme. PNoy would all the more put the education sector in a precarious situation if he allows the private sector to broaden its intervention in what is supposedly a public service. It is not far-fetched to think that the private sector would engage in education to further accumulate profits for their own selfish gains. Private construction firms would earn twice their usual profits via the PPP, considering that their estimated project cost for 9,332 regular classrooms this SY 2012-13 would total to P9.8 billlion as contrasted with the DepEd figures that reach a mere P4.6 billion. 8. The Philippine education budget remains low and small, reaching just sa 2.3% of the GDP this 2012 far below the UN international standard which is at least 6% of the GDP. The Philippines is second to Cambodia among the nations with the lowest budget for education relative to the GDP. Meanwhile, Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore allot more than 3% of their GDP to education; Vietnam allots 5% ; and Malaysia allots almost 6%; while the industrialized countries of America, Europe and Asia allot more than 6% of their GDP on education. The Aquino regimes target education budget for 2013 to 2017 would reach just 2.7% to 3.3% of the GDP. This is a clear indication that PNoy is not serious in implementing reforms in the education sector, and that his Kto12 scheme lacks quality. Hence, Pnoys K to 12 has no K! It has no kalidad (quality)! It has no karapatan (right) to exist! C. PNoys K to 12 is an additional burden to teachers, students and parents! 1. PNoy's Kto12 further worsen the crisis of shortages.

In the kindergarten level where the additional new students have ballooned to 2 million, shortages are to be expected. As per the DepEds standard ratio of 25 pupils per teacher per class, an additional 40,000 teachers and 40,000 classrooms would be needed. This year, the DepEd has a deficit of at least P100 billion for the implementation of K to 12. 2. Because majority of our citizens are still mired in poverty, Kto12 would only further decrease the participation rate of the youth in education, especially among the poor. The net elementary participation rate has steadily decreased from 90.1% last 2002 to 88.1% in 2010. According to DepEd, for every 100 Grade 1 students that enroll, only 66 fould graduate, and 58 would be able to enterl high school; only 43 would finish high school and only 23 would go to college, 10 of whom would take up short-term vocational courses; only 14 of those who enrolled in college would graduate and 7 vocational students would finish their course. Kto12 would further worsen the gap between the rich and the poor with regard to access to education. In 2007, the elementary participation rate among rich families is at 91.8% while among poor families, it is only 85.9%; in high school, the participation rate is 76.5% among rich families while it is only 51.4% among poor families. 3. Partly because of the unresolved widespread poverty, Kto12 would cause the number of dropouts and out-of-school youth, especially among the poor families, to soar. This 2011, the number of Filipino out-of-school youth has reached 8 million. Poverty is the primary reason behind the ballooning number of drop-outs and out-of-school youth in the 6 to 15 age bracket, on top of reasons such as lack of personal interest and too young to go to school. Meanwhile, in the 16 to 24 age bracket, the need to work for survival and the high cost of education are among the top reasons behind the increasing number of drop-outs at out-ofschool youth. 4. PNoys additional two years of basic education via the K to 12 is an additional burden to majority of our citizens who belong to poor families. Every additional year of schooling entails more than P14,580 additional costs per student even if there are no tuition fees in the basic education sector, because students would need to have funds for expenses that the government dont (or wont ever) subsidize such as transportation, school projects, daily allowance etc.

Hence, an additional two years of schooling would mean additional expenses to most parents (and even working students) who are suffering and working miserably just to cover the basic necessities whose prices keep on soaring while wages remain almost frozen, especially after the Aquino regime bluntly rejected the workers more than a decade-old demand for a mere P125 across-theboard and nationwide wage increase last May. 5. For teachers who have been suffering for so long because of insufficient salary (which, despite recent increases, is still far below the poverty threshold), lack of facilities, huge class size and long hours of teaching, PNoys Kto12 would mean an additional burden too. 6. The Philippines has the worst teacher-student ratio in high school in the whole Asia-Pacific region, considering that our government standard ratio is 35 students per teacher; meanwhile in Malaysia and Singapore, the ratio is pegged at 14 students per teacher; in Thailand 19; in Indonesia 12, and in Vietnam 18. 7. Through the K to 12 program, the Aquino regime is forcibly implementing the anti-teacher and exploitative scheme of wholesale contractualization through hiring around 20,000 volunteer kinder teachers who would receive a mere P3,000 per class, monthly. This is the height of exploitation, considering that such amount is just a quarter of what is set in the Minimum Wage Law. Worse, the volunteer teachers would only receive their salary after 6 months or even after moran than a year of service. 8. PNoys Kto12 scheme is also an additional burden to the students who have been suffering from the lack of classrooms, the large class sizes that reach 60 to 100 per room in some schools; not to mention humungous inadequacies in chairs, textbooks and water & sanitation facilities. 9. In NCR, DepEd released a memorandum arbitrarily reducing the number of regular students by 20% and pegging the standard class size to 60 students per class, where there are huge shortages in the number of classrooms. Students who belong to that 20% were arbitrarily transferred to the Home Study Program under which students would engage in self-study and theyd only come to school every Saturday. Somehow, this is tantamount to an instant increase in the number of dropouts and technically out-of-school youth in NCR! 10. ACT strongly condemns the plan of DepEd, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Malacanang to delegate the task of providing the additional two years of senior high school (Grades 11 and 12) to tuition-profit oriented private schools, colleges and universities under PNoys K to 12 scheme so as to purportedly resolve two major problems brought by this very scheme.

Firstly, tuition-profit oriented private colleges and universities would take in the expected 2.3 million senior high schools students for SY 2016-17 and SY 2017-18 that the public school system cant accomodate under the Kto12 scheme because of the governments failure to resolve the shortage crisis and the small budgetary allocation for education. Secondly, this scheme would somehow resolve the projected loss of profits of private colleges and universities. According to the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU): The financial losses from the enrollment drop could be in the billions of pesos if countermeasures are not put in place before 2016. Indeed, the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA) estimates that the losses would hover around P128 billion. Under this scheme, through collecting tuition fees and receiving government subsidy via the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private -Education (GASTPE), private school owners would reap around P34.4 billion in profits in exchange for accomodating the senior high school students, according to the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP). Hence, PNoys Kto12 through the senior high school scheme (Grade 11 & 12) is essentially a program for sale and not for free, contrary to what is stated in the Constitution that basic education, including high school, should be free and accessible to everyone. D. Our Just Demands and Call to Action *The problems of the countrys education system is closely related to and in fact rooted in other social problems such as poverty, lack of employment opportunities, lack of a bright future for the majority of young citizens and poor families in the Philippines. *For as long as poverty and the backward status of the economy are not resolved; for as long as genuine agrarian reform and national/nationalist industrialization remains unfulfilled; for as long as corruption and rottenness rules the land as the politicians keep on serving the interest of big local businessmen in cahoots with big foreign monopoly banks, corporations and governments the Aquino regimes Kto12 would remain anti-nationalist, pro-foreign, quality-deficient and burdensome in the minds and hearts of teachers, students and parents. *PNoys Kto12 scheme is not a solution; on the contrary, it would bring more problems to teachers, students and parents! *Hence, lets unite and militantly fight for the following just demands:

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1. Junk PNoys anti-nationalist, pro-foreign, quality-deficient and burdensome K to 12 scheme! Work for the crafting of a genuinely nationalist, scientific, mass-oriented and free education! We urge everyone to support the establishment of a well-funded special committee that would credibly and authoritatively conduct a serious, comprehensive and well-defined study aimed at overhauling the education system based on a more in-depth and more comprehensive identification and analysis of the fundamental problems of the education system in particular, and the countrys social system in general. Education reforms should not be derived nor based on the studies, proposals and impositions of foreign business institutions, corporations & government-sponsored consortia, such as SEAMEOInnotech and APEC-Asean mutual regonition projects, Washington Accord of America Amerika and the Bologna Process of Europe. Let us use our countrymens own perspectives, frameworks and methodologies in crafting an education system that is progressively patriotic, scientific, mass-oriented and free for everyone towards the establishment of a country where there is genuine freedom, democracy, justice, progress, prosperity and peace. 2. Allot much time, funds, resources, and preparation for the implementation and further development of Quality Kinder Education as the foundation of the Filipino youths basic education. We demand at least 30,000 new regular teaching items for the kindergarten level, each having a salary scale in accordance with SSL3; contractual and volunteer teaching positions have no place in a system that strives to achieve high quality; teachers, especially at the most basic level at kindergarten should have sufficient and suitable qualifications. In addition, the following must be implemented:
1. One teacher aide per class (perhaps a volunteer) aside from the regular teacher;

2. 25 kinder students per class 3. For Grade 1 teachers and other non-kinder teachers who would be asked to teach in the kindergarten, additional compensation must be made availble in accordance with the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers 4. Adequate number of classrooms and sanitation facilities 5. High-quality curriculum/teaching & study guide/training/textbooks/instructional materials 3. Regularization of teachers, especially in kinder! Junk the anti-teacher and anti-worker scheme of contractualization!

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4. Resolve the crisis of shortages in the number of teachers, classrooms, sanitation facilities, textbooks, instructional materials, etc. 5. Junk the Home Study Program that arbitrarily dumps young citizens as drop-outs and out-of-school-youth, as a brutal way of temporarily resolving classroom shortages. 6. Double the budget for public schools MOOE. 7. Legislate and implement the Salary Upgrading of Teachers (SG15) and Instructors (SG16), and provide a P6,000 increase in the base pay of government employees. 8. Provide higher state subsidies to State Universities & Colleges. 9. Junk any type of unjust increase in tuition & other fees. Junk any scheme of privatization, commercialization and proliferation of profit-oriented private institutions & corporations in education. 10. Provide higher budget for education, at least something that complies with the minimum UN standard which is 6% of the GDP. ### ============================================================= Every member and/or supported of ACT, faculty club officers/federation officers, principals and non-teaching personnel, education students, GPTAs and community organizations, and more especially, education students and parents are encouraged to immediately disseminate this document. Printed versions of this are available at the National Office of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Philippines. This (and the original Filipino version) can be also downloaded at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/100173820/Alliance-of-Concerned-Teachers-ACT-Critique-of-and-Call-to-Action-on-PNoy-s-K-to-12

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON PHILIPPINE EDUCATIONAL ISSUES, GO TO: www.actphils.com

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ORIGINAL:

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(Source: http://www.facebook.com/notes/act-phils/k-to-12-ni-pnoy-makadayuhan-walang-kalidaddagdag-pahirap-ibasura/472610286102035?comment_id=109550860&notif_t=like ) Kritik at Panawagan ng Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) laban sa K to 12 ni PNoy Hunyo 10, 2012 Una sa lahat, itong K to 12 ni PNoy ay hindi nakabatay sa at walang pinagbatayan na komprehensibo at malalim na pagsisiyasat, pagsusuri at pag-aaral sa totoo at kongkretong pundamental na mga problema ng sistema ng edukasyon at ng sistema ng lipunan ng bansa. Kaya walang komprehensibo, malalim at kalidad na solusyon ang K to 12 ni PNoy sa malalim at malalang problema ng edukasyon at ng lipunan, at kung gayun, wala itong maidudulot na kabutihan o bentahe, kahit pansamantala man o pangmatagalan, para sa guro, kabataan at sambayanang Pilipino. Bahagi lamang itong K to 12 sa mahabang listahan ng makadayuhan at kontra-mamamayang mga programa ng gubyerno at pinakahuli lamang sa mga serye ng pekeng reporma at palpak na pageekperimento sa sistema ng edukasyon ng mga naging Pangulo ng bansa mula pa noon kay diktador Marcos hanggang ngayon kay PNoy. A. K to 12 ni PNoy: Para pa rin sa dayuhang negosyo at hindi para sa kabutihan ng sambayanang Pilipino!

1. Ang pwersahan at iresponsableng pagpapatupad ni PNoy ng K to 12 ay pagsunod lamang sa mga dikta ng dayuhang monopolyong bangko, korporasyon at gobyerno sa larangan ng edukasyon. 2. Sa pamamagitan ng K to 12 ni PNoy, ang sistema ng edukasyon ay itinutugma sa mga pangangailangang itinakda ng mga dayuhang multinasyunal na bangkot kompanya. Nakabalangkas ito sa patakaran ng neoliberalismo at imperyalistang globalisasyon na malaon nang napatunayang bangkarote at kontra-kaunlaran. 3. Ang K to 12 ni PNoy sa kongkreto ay tuwirang imposisyon ng Washington Accord ng America, Bologna Process ng Europa, APEC and ASEAN mutual recognition projects at SEAMEOInnotech sa Asia, sa ngalan ng trade liberalization, growing global market, at international standards & agreements. 4. Sa K to 12 ni PNoy, ang sistema ng edukasyon sa Pilipinas ay patuloy pa ring gagamitin upang sanayin ang mga batang Pilipino para maging di mauubusang balon ng mura at supil na semi-

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skiled at skilled na lakas-paggawa at ng papalaki pang hukbo ng mga binabarat na unemployed o underemployed na lakas-paggawa ng mga nagsasabwatang lokal at dayuhang bangkot korporasyon. 5. Patuloy ring magsisilbi itong K to 12 ni PNoy sa programa ng pag-eeksport ng lakas-paggawa bilang makitid na solusyon sa malawak na problema ng disempleyo at sa desperadong pagsandig ng gobyerno sa dollar remittances ng lumolobong bilang ng mga OFWs. 6. Kaya talagang nakadepende lamang sa mga pangangailangan at kapritso ng pandaigdigang merkado sa paggawa ang diin at direksyon ng K to 12 ni PNoy sa batayang edukasyon. 7. Partikular na layunin ng K to 12 ni PNoy, sa pagdaragdag ng dalawang taon, na ang mga high school graduates sa edad na 18 ay kagyat nang mabilang sa lumolobong hukbo ng mga unemployed o underemployed na lakas-paggawa. Kaya itinuon ng K to 12 ang huling dalawang taon nito sa espesyalisasyon o edukasyong teknikal o bokasyunal para magsanay ng skilled at semi-skilled na mga manggagawa para sa pangangailangan ng mga dayuhang korporasyon at ng dayuhang pamilihan sa paggawa. 8. Imbes na magkolehiyo pa, target na ng K to 12 ni PNoy na ibaba ang edad ng mga kabataang high school graduates bilang kwalipikado at skilled na manggagawa, palakihin pa ang populasyon ng mga unemployed o underemployed, hilahin pa pababa ang pasahod sa mga manggagawa, at ipagtulakang mag-abroad ang mga kabataan bilang OFWs. 9. Wala nang plano si PNoy na tustusan pa ng estado ang pag-aaral ng mga kabataan sa kolehiyo at unibersidad. Dahil sa K to 12, katwiran na ni PNoy na ang edukasyong pangkolehiyo ay isa na lamang luho, hindi na karapatan ng lahat, at para na lang sa abanteng pag-aaral ng mga mayayaman. Tuwiran nang inabandona ni PNoy ang responsibilidad ng estado na magbigyan ng oportunidad ang lahat na kabataan para sa libre at sapat na edukasyon sa lahat ng antas, hanggang kolehiyo. 10. Kaya sa K to 12 ni PNoy, magpapatuloy ang mahigit 20 taon nang padron ng pagbabawas ng badyet para sa mga state universities and colleges (SUCs) alinsunod sa Education Act ng 1982 ng diktador na si Marcos. 11. Imbes na protektahan at itaguyod ang karapatan ng lahat na mamamayang Pilipino para sa kalidad na edukasyon sa lahat ng antas, ibayo pang pinapaboran ng K to 12 ni PNoy ang pribatisasyon, komersyalisasyon at proliperasyon ng mga profit-oriented private education institutions & corporations na walang kasing ganid na nagtataas ng TOFI o tuition & other fees at kumakamal ng milyun-milyong tubo.

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12. Isang malaking ilusyon at panlilinlang ng K to 12 ni PNoy na sabihing agarang makakakuha ng trabaho ang mga high school graduates nito na nakapag-aral ng mga TLE subjects na agricultural/fishery arts, industrial arts, home economics, at information & communications technology sa kalagayang milyun-milyong mamamayang Pilipino ang walang trabaho, atrasadong-atrasado ang sistema ng agrikultura at walang kahit anong batayang industriya ang ating bansa. 13. Ang ekonomya ng bansa ay binubuhay na lamang ng pagsandig nito sa mga dollar remittances ng mga OFWs, sa papalaking dayuhang utang, at sa patuloy na eksportasyon ng mga raw materials at semi-processed products at sa importasyon ng lahat na produktong pangkonsumo, agricultural, komersyal at industrial. 14. Sa katunayan, ang mga inhinyero, teknisyan, syentista sa kompyuter at iba pang eksperto sa larangan ng agham ay walang mapaglagyan sa ekonomyang ang tanging oportunidad na maghanapbuhay ay pumasok sa mga call center o mangibang-bayan. Kahit ang mga nurse at caregivers ay walang mapasukang trabaho. 15. Dagdag pa sa pagiging makadayuhan ng K to 12 ni PNoy: Binawasan ang oras ng pag-aaral ng Araling Panlipunan at ang pitong magkakaugnay na temang gagabay sa buong Araling Panlipunan kurikulum ay tuwirang hango sa mga temang binuo ng National Council for Social Studies ng Estados Unidos. (National Council for the Social Studies, National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies: Introduction, http://www.ncss.org/standards/introduction Accessed 11 October 2011) 1. Estados Unidos din ang pangunahing references ng K to 12 Kindergarten Curriculum:

Copple, Carol and Bredecamp, Sue. eds. Developmentally Appropriate Practices in Early Childhood Program: Serving Children from Birth through age Eight., USA: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), 2009. Marjorie et al. Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum: Best Practices in Early Childhood Education. USA: Pearson Education Inc., 2011

2. Pagpapalaki ng halaga at oras ng pag-aaral sa wikang English na tinuring pa nga sa RA 10157 o Kinder Law na: strengthen the childs understanding of English, which is the official language. B. Walang kalidad at kulang-kulang ang K to 12 ni PNoy! 1. Hindi seryoso, bagkus, papogi at yabang lang ni PNoy ang pwersahan at iresponsableng pagpapatupad ng K to 12 para lang masabing meron siyang reporma at performance sa edukasyon.

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Sa katunayan, isang election campaign slogan lamang ni PNoy at ng Liberal Party ni Mar Roxas itong K to 12 na hanggang ngayon ay nakabinbin pa rin bilang panukala sa konggreso. 2. Ang K to 12 ni PNoy ay walang basbas ng batas, walang pondo, walang buong kurikulum, walang textbooks, walang module at instructional materials, at walang matinong training ng mga teachers. 3. Palpak at disaster ang partial implementation ng Kinder Program noong SY 2011-12 bilang Phase-1 ng K to 12 ni PNoy. Pwersahan at iresponsableng pinatupad ng DepEd at ng Malacanang ang tinuran nitong universal kinder program kahit wala pa itong batas; walang matinong kurikulum; walang pag-aaral, pagsasanay at paghahanda; walang sapat na bilang ng teachers, classrooms, chairs, textbooks at sanitation facilities; at walang pondo. Kaya naman nagmistulang mga basang sisiw ang mga mahigit sa 1 milyong batang kinder at nagdusa naman ang libo-libong volunteer teachers na kinontratang tumanggap nang P3000 per class na allowance lamang sa pagtuturo ng kinder, delayed pa. Di hamak na mas mababa ito ng 4 beses kaysa sa tinatadhana ng minimum wage law. 4. Anong kalidad meron itong K to 12 ni PNoy kung sa kinder pa lang ay masahol na ang kalagayan: mahigit sa 60 ang class-size; walang LET o lisensya ang mga volunteer kinder teachers na nagtuturo ng 2 shifts hanggang 4 shifts mula ala-6 ng umaga hanggang ala-6 ng gabi; at pasasahurin laman ang mga volunteer teachers ng P3,000 per class o shift sa isang buwan na katumbas lamang ng P100 bawat araw na hamak na mas mababa ng 4 na beses kumpara sa P446 bawat araw ayon sa minimum wage law sa NCR; ang masahol nito ay matatanggap lamang ng mga volunteer kinder teachers ang kanilang kakarampot na allowance pagkalipas ng 6 na buwan hangang mahigit pa sa isang taon. 5. Mas malaking kapalpakan at disaster ang implementation ng Phase-2 ng K to 12 ngayong SY2012-13. Muling nagyabang ang DepEd at Malacanang sa iresponsable, pwersahan at minadali nitong pagpapatupad ng K to 12, at ngayon, bukod sa kinder, ang kawawang mga biktima naman ay mga Grade 1 at Grade 7 o first year high school teachers and students. Bago pa ang pasukan ay malaking kalituhan at kaguluhan na ang dulot ng pwersahang pagpapatupad ng Phase-2 ng K to 12 sa hanay ng mga teachers na nitong huling linggo ng Abril lamang sinimulang isalang ng DepEd sa trainors training ng K to 12. 6. Kaya nitong pasukan hanggang kasalukuyan ay malaganap pa rin ang kalituhan, kaguluhan, disoryentasyon at disgusto ng mga guro, mag-aaral at magulang sa K to 12 ni PNoy. Sandamakmak ang mga katanungan, kalituhan at kaguluhan.

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Bakit wala pang batas ay pinapatupad na ang K to 12? Bakit walang buong K to 12 kurikulum? Nasaan ang mga teksto, module at lesson plan? Paano ituturo ito? Bakit sisimulan na ang Phase-2 ng K to 12 sa Grade1 samantalang ngayong SY2012-13 pa lamang sisimulan ang pormal na mandatory universal kinder program na pinirmahan bilang batas ni PNoy nitong Enero 2012 lamang? Bakit sisimulan na rin sa Phase-2 ng K to 12 ang Grade 7 o 1st year junior high school kung nasa lumang grade school kurikulum pa ang mga elementary graduates nito na magiging incoming first year high school? Bakit tumalon na agad sa high school ang K to 12 kurikulum samantalang wala pa namang K to 12 kurikulum sa buong grade school? Ano naman itong mother-tongue/multi-language? Panibago ba itong subject? Paano ito gagamitin? Paano ito ituturo? Lubhang nakakahilo itong spiral progression approach sa pagtuturo ng Math at Science? Bakit binawasan ang oras ng pag-aaral at pagtuturo ng Araling Panlipunan? Ano na ang laman ng senior high school? Kung ituturo na sa dalawang taong senior high school ang general education sa unang dalawang taon sa college, ano na ang ituturo sa unang dalawang taon sa college? Sino na ang magtuturo sa senior high school, mga college instructors at professors na kailangan pang kumuha ng LET? Ano ang mangyayari sa SY2016-17 at SY2017-18 kung saan walang magiging senior high school graduates kaya wala ring papasok sa college bilang mga freshies? Sakop at saklaw ba ng K to 12 ang mga private schools? Ano ang magiging kurikulum sa kolehiyo? Napakaraming katanungan at ang bawat kasagutan kung meron man ay nag-aanak pa ng mas maraming katanungan, kalituhan, kaguluhan, disoryentasyon at diskuntento dahil talagang pwersahan, iresponsable at atat na atat na nagmamadaling pinapatupad ng DepEd at ng Malacanang ang K to 12 na wala pa namang batas, pondo, laman at kahandaan! 7. Patuloy ang krisis sa shortages sa bilang ng mga teachers, classrooms, chairs, textbooks, instructional materials, water & sanitation facilities, atbp. na ibayong pinalala ng pwersahan at iresponsableng pagpapatupad ng K to 12 ni PNoy. Mula sa pinakahuling tala ng Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), 132,483 ang kakulangan sa teachers, 97,685 ang tinatayang kakulangan sa classrooms, at 153,709 ang kakulangan sa mga sanitation facilities ngayong akademikong taon. Nitong taon, naglaan ang rehimeng Aquino ng P239 bilyon para sa DepEd, katumbas ng P7/araw para sa isang estudyante. Sapat lamang ito para tugunan ang 27% ng pangangailangan para sa

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bagong mga klasrum, 20% ng kakulangan para sa mga bagong upuan at 12% para sa mga bagong guro. Wala pa rito ang mahigit P100 bilyon na kinakailangan para sa dagdag na gastos para sa programang K to 12.

Mula sa bagong labas na National Budget Memorandum 113 ng Department of Budget and Management (DBM), ang budget ceiling ng DepED para sa taong 2013 ay P259.25B pero ang pangangailangan ng DepED para sa taong 2013 ay P321.91B. Isang malaking tanong kung saan kukunin ng gobyerno ni PNoy ang P78.95 B na kakulangan sa pondo ng DepEd. Nais resolbahin ito ng gobyerno sa pamamagitan ng pagpapalaki ng papel ng pribadong interes sa sektor ng edukasyon sa pamamagitang ng Public-Private Partnership. Lalong ilalagay sa panganib ni PNoy ang sektor kung hahayaan nitong manghimasok ang interes ng pribado sa pampublikong serbisyo, di malayong gamitin ng pribadong sektor ang edukasyon para sa interes nitong magkamal ng tubo. Mahigit sa doble ang patong at tutubuin ng mga private construction na kompanya sa ilalim ng PPP dahil ang tinatayang project cost nila sa target na 9,332 regular classroom construction nayong SY2012-13 ay P9.8 bilyon kumpara sa P4.6 bilyon lamang na pagtaya ng DepEd. 8. Nananatiling mababa at maliit ang nilaan na badyet sa edukasyon na umabot lang sa 2.3% ng GDP ngayong 2012 na malayong-malayo sa tinatadhanang U.N. international standard na 6% ng GDP. Pumangalawa ang Pilipinas sa Cambodia na may pinakamababang badyet sa edukasyon ayon sa porsyento nito sa GDP. Samantala, mahigit sa 3% ng GDP ang badyet sa edukasyon ng Indonesia, Thailand at Singapore; 5% naman sa Vietnam at halos 6% naman sa Malaysia; habang ang mga industriyalisadong bansa sa Amerika, Europa at Asya ay naglalaan ng mahigit sa 6% ng GDP nila sa edukasyon. Napakababa rin ang target badyet ni PNoy para sa edukasyon para sa 2013 hanggang 2017 na lumalaro lamang sa 2.7% hanggang 3.3% sa maksimum ng GDP. Isa itong napakalinaw na indikasyon na wala talagang kaseryosohan si PNoy sa pagreporma ng edukasyon at talagang walang kalidad itong K to 12 ni PNoy. Sa madaling sabi, ang K to 12 ni PNoy ay walang K! Walang kalidad! Walang karapatan! C. Dagdag pahirap lamang ang K to 12 ni PNoy sa mga guro, mag-aaral at magulang! 1. Pinalalala lamang ng K to 12 ni PNoy ang krisis sa shortages.

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Sa kinder pa lang na may dagdag na halos 2 milyong bagong batang mag-aaral ay ibayo nang lumobo ang krisis sa shortages. Kung susundin lamang ang tinakdang ratio ng DepEd na 25 pupils per teacher per class, karagdagang 40,000 teachers at karagdagang 40,000 classrooms agad ang kailangan. Ngayong taon nga ay kulang na agad ng P100 bilyon ang badyet sa edukasyon para sa dagdag na gastusin para sa K to 12 program. 2. Dahil lubog pa rin sa kahirapan ang mayorya ng pamilyang Pilipino, ibayo lamang pabababain ng K to 12 ang participation rate ng kabataan sa edukasyon, lalo na sa hanay ng mahihirap. Ang net elementary participation rates ay patuloy na bumagsak mula sa 90.1% noong 2002 pababa sa 88.1% nitong 2010. Ayon mismo sa DepEd, mula sa 100 Grade 1 students, 66 lamang ang nakakatapos at 58 lamang ang nakakapasok sa high school; 43 lamang ang nakakatapos ng high school at 23 ang nagtutuloy sa kolehiyo, samantalang 10 ang kumukuha na lang ng vocational. 14 mula sa 23 college students at 7 lamang sa 10 vocational students ang makakapagtapos. Ibayo ring palalalain ng K to 12 ang unequal access to education sa pagitan ng mahirap at mayaman. Noong 2007, sa elementary ay 91.8% ang participation rate mula mayayamang pamilya, samantalang 85.9% naman mula sa mahihirap na pamilya; sa high school naman ay 76.5% mula sa mayayamang pamilya, habang 51.4% naman mula sa mahihirap na pamilya. 3. Dahil pa rin sa kahirapan, ibayo palalakihin din ng K to 12 ang bilang ng dropouts at out-ofschool youth, lalo na sa hanay ng mahihirap na pamilya. Nitong 2011 ay lumobo na sa 8 milyon ang out-of-school na kabataang Pilipino. Kahirapan ang isa sa pangunahing dahilan ng paglobo ng bilang ng mga drop-outs at out-of-school youth sa edad na 6 hanggang 15 anyos, maliban pa sa lack of personal interest at too young to go to school.Samantalang sa edad na 16 hanggang 24 anyos, ang pangangailangan nang magtrabaho at kumayod para mabuhay at ang napakataas na gastusin sa pag-aaral ang nangingibaw nang dahilan ng paglobo ng drop-outs at out-of-school youth. 4. Ang dagdag na 2 taon ng K to 12 ni PNoy ay dagdag na pabigat at pahirap sa mayorya ng pamilyang mahihirap. Mahigit sa P14,580 ang gastusin para sa pag-papaaral kada taon, kada estudyante kahit na libre ang pampublikong edukasyon. Kasama dito ang gastusin para sa pamasahe, mga proyekto, baon, atbp.

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Ang dagdag na 2 taon ay dagdag na gastusin para sa mga magulang lalo pa sa hirap ng buhay ngayong nagtataasan ang presyo ng batayang mga bilihin habang nakapako sa mababang halaga ang sahod, matapos talikuran ni Aquino ang panawagang P125 across the board,nationwide nitong Mayo. 5. Dagdag pabigat at pahirap din itong K to 12 ni PNoy para sa mga teachers na matagal nang nagsasakripisyo at nagtitiis sa mababang pasahod na malayong mababa pa kaysa sa poverty threshold, sa kakulangan ng mga pasilidad, sa malaking class-size at sa mahabang oras ng pagtuturo. 6. Pilipinas ang may pinakamalalang sitwasyon ng ratio ng teacher at student sa high school sa buong Asia-Pacific region kung saan may mahigit 35 students per teacher, samantalang ang Malaysia at Singapore ay may ratio na 14 students per teacher, ang Thailand ay 19, ang Indonesia ay 12, at ang Vietnam ay 18. 7. Sa pamamagitan ng K to 12 ay pwersahan nang pinapatupad ni PNoy ang anti-guro at mapagsamantalang iskema nito ng malawakang kontraktwalisasyon sa pamamagitan ng pagkuha at paggamit sa 20,000 volunteer kinder teachers na pasasahurin lamang ng P3,000 per class sa isang buwan. Sukdulan itong pagsasamantala sa mga volunteer teachers na ang pasahod ay mas mababa pa ng 4 na beses sa tinakda ng minimum wage law. Ang masahol nito, matatanggap lamang ng mga volunteer teachers ang kakarampot nilang sweldo matapos pa ang 6 na buwan o higit pa sa isang taong pagtatrabaho. 8. Dagdag na pabigat at pahirap din itong K to 12 ni PNoy para sa mga mag-aaral na higit na nagdurusa sa kakulangan ng mga classrooms at malalaking class-size na umaabot ng 60 hanggang 100 bawat kwarto; at, sa kakulangan ng chairs, textbooks at mga water & sanitation facilities. 9. Sa NCR, naglabas ng memo ang DepEd na pwersahang magbawas ng 20% ng regular na populasyon ng mag-aaral sa mga paaralang malaki ang shortage sa bilang ng classrooms at itinakda ang maksimum na 60 students per class. Ang pwersahang nabawas na 20% ay inilipat sa Home Study Program kung saan ang mag-aaral ay sa bahay na lamang magkukusang-aral at tuwing Sabado na lamang papasok sa iskwela. Ngayon pa lang ay pwersahan nang pinalolobo ng 20% ng DepEd ang bilang ng mga drop-outs at out-of-school youth sa NCR! 10. Mariing kinokondina ng ACT ang plano ng DepEd, Ched at Malacanang na ipasagot sa mga tuition-profit oriented private schools, colleges and universities ang 2-taong dagdag na senior high school (Grade 11 & 12) sa ilalim ng K to 12 ni PNoy upang magkasabay na resolbahin ang dalawang mayor na problemang dulot ng K to 12.

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Una, saluhin ng mga tuition-profit oriented private colleges and universities ang inaasahang 2.3 milyong bilang ng senior high schools students sa SY2016-17 at SY2017-18 na hindi sasagutin ng public school system sa ilalim ng K to 12 program ni PNoy dahil nga sa pagpapanatili ni PNoy sa shortage crisis at sa kaliitan ng budget na inilalaan ng gubyerno sa edukasyon. Ikalawa, iwasan at resolbahin ang tinatayang pagkalugi ng mga private colleges and universities. Ayon sa Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU): The financial losses from the enrollment drop could be in the billions of pesos if countermeasures are not put in place before 2016, na sa taya ng Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA) ay aabot ng P128 biyon. Sa ganitong iskema, sa pamamagitan ng pagsingil ng tuition fees at pagtanggap ng subsidy ng gobyerno sa ilalim ng Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private -Education (GASTPE) ay kikita at tutubo pa ng P34.4 bilyon ang mga private school owners ayon sa Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) sa pagsalo nila sa senior high school o Grade 11 & 12 sa K to 12 ni PNoy. Ang senior high school o Grade 11 & 12 sa K to 12 ni PNoy kung gayun sa esensya ay for sale & not for free, contrary sa tinatadhana ng Saligang Batas na ang basic education kabilang ang high school ay dapat na libre.

D. Panawagan at Kahilingan Ang problema ng edukasyon ng bansa ay mahigpit na nakakabit at nakaugat sa problema ng kahirapan, kawalan ng oportunidad sa empleyo at kawalan ng magandang kinabukasan ng higit na mayorya ng kabataan at pamilyang Pilipino. Hanggang hindi nareresolba ang kahirapan at pagiging atrasado ng ekonomya; hanggang walang tunay na repormang agraryo at pambansang industriyalisasyon; at, hanggang naghahari ang korapsyon at kabulukan ng pulitika at mga pulitikong nagsisilbi lamang sa interes ng mga nagsasabwatang malalaking lokal at dayuhang monopolyong bangko, korporasyon at gubyerno mananatiling makadayuhan, walang kalidad at pahirap lamang sa mga guro, mag-aaral at magulang ang K to 12 ni PNoy at ang kanyang gubyerno. Hindi solusyon sa edukasyon, bagkus ibayong konsumisyon pa nga ang dulot ng K to 12 ni PNoy sa mga teachers, mag-aaral at magulang! Kaya magkaisa at militante nating ipaglaban ang mga sumusunod na panawagan at kahilingan:

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1. Ibasura na ang K to 12 ni PNoy na makadayuhan, walang kalidad at dagdag pahirap sa mga guro, kabataan at magulang! Itaguyod ang pagbabalangkas ng tunay na makabayan, siyentipiko, pangmasa at libreng edukasyon! Magbuo ng isang Komisyon na may buong kredibilidad, awtoridad at pondo upang magsagawa ng seryoso, komprehensibo at depenidong pag-aaral, pagbabalangkas at paghahanda batay sa mas malalim at mas komprehensibong pagsusuri at pagtukoy ng mga pundamental na suliranin ng sistema ng edukasyon sa partikular at ng sistema ng lipunan sa kabuuan. Huwag ibatay ang anumang reporma sa edukasyon ng ating bansa nang ayon sa pag-aaral, panukala at imposisyon ng mga foreign-business institutions, corporations & government tulad ng SEAMEO-Innotech at APEC-Asean mutual regonition projects , Washington Accord ng Amerika at Bologna Process ng Europa. Kailangang magsilbing pananaw, balangkas at pamamaraan ang pagtataguyod ng isang edukasyong makabayan, siyentipiko, makamasa at libre para sa pagtatatag ng bansang may tunay at ganap na kalayaan, demokrasya, katarungan, kaunlaran, kasaganahan at kapayapaan. 2. Pagtuunan at pagbuhasan ng buong panahon, pondo, rekurso at paghahanda ang pagpapatupad at pagpapaunlad ng Quality Kinder Education bilang pundasyon ng basic education ng kabataang Pilipino. 30,000 new regular teaching items para sa kinder; iayon sa pasweldo ng SSL3; hindi dapat kontraktwal at volunteer; may sapat at angkop na kwalipikasyon sa pagtuturo ng kinder 1. Teacher Aide per class na siyang maaaring ituring na volunteer; 2. 25 kinder students per class 3. Sa mga Grade 1 teachers at iba pang non-kinder teacher na pagtuturuin sa kinder, dapat iayon sa magna carta ang additional compensation 4. Sapat na bilang ng classrooms at sanitation facilities 5. Kalidad na curriculum/teaching & study guide/training/textbooks/instructional materials 3. Regularisasyon ng mga teachers lalo na sa Kinder! Ibasura ang anti-gurong iskemang kontraktwalisasyon. 4. Punuan at iresolba ang krisis sa shortages sa bilang ng mga teachers, classrooms, sanitation facilities, textbooks, instructional materials, atbp. 5. Ibasura ang Home Study Program na pwersahang nagtapon sa kabataan bilang dropouts at out-of-school-youth bilang brutal na paraan ng pagresolba ng classroom shortages.

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6. Doblehin ang budget sa MOOE ng mga paaralan. 7. Isabatas at ipatupad ang Salary Upgrading ng mga Teachers (SG15) at Instructors (SG16), at dagdagan ng P6,000 ang base pay ng mga kawani. 8. Maglaan ng malaking badyet para sa mga State Universities & Colleges. 9. Ibasura ang anumang tipo ng pagtaas ng tuition & other fees. Ibasura ang anumang iskema ng privatization, commercialization at proliferation ng mga profit-oriented private institutions & corporations sa edukasyon. 10. Maglaan ng malaking badyet sa edukasyon na hindi bababa sa UN Standard na 6% of GDP. ### ============================================================= Lubos pong hinihikayat ang lahat ng mga Guro na miyembro at Tagasuporta ng ACT, mga Faculty Club officers/Federation Officers, mga Principals at Non-Teaching Personnel, mga Education Students, Mga GPTA at mga Organisasyon sa komunidad at bukod sa lahat ang mga estudyante't mga magulang na agad Palaganapin ang dokumentong ito. Mayroon din pong Printed Verssion nito, na maaring makuha at magsadya sa Pambansang Opisina ng Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Philippines. =============================================================

FIRST-DAY BLUES Frightened perhaps by the strange surroundings, two pupils are in tears outside their classroom at the President Corazon C. Aquino Elementary School in Quezon City. More than 21 million students started attending classes yesterday. (KJ Rosales)

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