By ILOILO CITY – “Junk K-12, No to Charter Change!” This was the call of the youth, parents, and teachers during the Panay Wide Education Summit held last April 20, 2024.
According to Kabataan Partylist VP for Visayas Paolo Echavez, those who graduated from K-12 are not job-ready because no company is open to accepting senior high school graduates. He also said that education in the country remains inaccessible as cuts to the education budget continue every year. This year, the budget for basic education has a P1.1 billion cut.
The implications to education of the proposed Charter Change were also discussed during the summit. Marcos Jr.’s Charter Change, which is currently being pushed in Congress through RBH7 in the House of Representatives, RBH6 in the Senate, and People’s Initiative, contain provisions that will open the economy to foreign capitalists by allowing them 100% ownership to public services like electricity, water, transportation, telecommunications, advertising, and education.
According to Kabataan Partylist, the government only passes its responsibility of providing free and quality education to foreign capitalists. The group cited the experiences of other countries that have done similar moves saying that it only increased student debt, but the issue of the lack of education budget has not been resolved.
Both K-12 and Charter Change were alternatives pushed by the government to supposedly improve the education system in the country. However, the Panay Wide Education Summit saw that the problem with education is rooted in the lack of budget allocation to education itself.
It can be noted that according to the standard of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, 6% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product should be allotted to education. However, in the Philippines, the budget allocated to education only averages 2%-3% of the country’s GDP.
During said summit, different youth groups announced the launching of their petition signing to junk K-12. The summit ended with a symbolic signing in a unity tarp, bearing the calls for a greater budget for education, and junk Charter Change and K-12./PT
