President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Ryan Baldemor, PPA/File

MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday admitted that the K-12 program failed to deliver on its promise to equip Filipino students for employment and gave additional economic burden to parents.

The Philippine leader, in an interview, said that he shares the frustration of lawmakers like Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, who want the mandatory Senior High School system under the K-12 program scrapped.

But he said it was up to Congress to decide whether to amend or repeal the K-12 law entirely.

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“It is just expressing the same frustration that I expressed in the first place. It's costing more for the parents, kasi nadagdagan ng 2 years pa. Magmamatrikulasyon pa yan, maraming school supplies, bibili ng libro lahat. Sa 10 years wala naman advantage,” Marcos said.

“Wala naman naging advantage, hindi rin nakukuha sa trabaho. That's his frustration and that's also my frustration. So we'll see what the Congress will do.”

In the meantime, the President said his administration was working closely with the private sector to improve the current education system under the K-12 program and address the problem of skills mismatch.

“But while the law is still K-12, basta ang sinabi ko kay [Education] Sec. Sonny Angara, pagandahin natin nang husto habang nandyan pa yan. Kasi ano ang madalas nating marinig, mismatch. Yung skills ko hindi employable. Maging akong mag-ganito, pero hindi naman nila kailangan ng ganyang klase,” he said.

“We have partnered with the private sector and to ask them, ano ba ang kailangan nyong skills? Ano ba ang kailangan ninyong skills? Ano ba ang kailangan ninyong klaseng trabahador para ma-employ doon sa inyo. In fairness, the private sector went even one step further. Gusto nyo kami na magpatakbo ng training. Tapos paglabas niya sa training, may trabaho siya sa amin. Kasi eksakto ang training niya sa kailangan namin. Yan ang aming ginagawa.” 

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Marcos said the administration was partnering with the private sector to solve the country’s critical classroom shortage.

“We have entered into a program to rebuild and build more school buildings, ginawa na naming PPP.  Ang gobyerno lang ang gagawa, kakaunti lang ang magagawa natin. But again, in fairness to the private sector, very cooperative sila. Naglalabas sila ng pera, very willing sila na tumulong,” he said.

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The Philippine leader expressed frustration over the poor state of the country’s public schools, which he said was a result of decades of neglect and insufficient government investment in education.

“Unang-una, classroom. Isipin mo 160,000 ang kulang natin na classroom. Paano nangyari yon? Basta pinabayaan na lang,” he said.

“May classroom kami nakikita, Marcos time pa. Tinayo noong 1970. Dapat ang classroom na yan 20-30 years lang ang lifetime. Dapat ayusin niyan after. Pero hanggang ngayon ginagamit pa. Pinabayaan talaga ang edukasyon. That's what happened. There was no effort to help education,” Marcos continued.

“Kaya ang rating natin sa STEM subject, pababa nang pababa. Halos hindi marunong magbasa.”

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Marcos added that he would continue prioritizing the welfare of public school teachers by working on systemic issues affecting educators, from delayed salaries to administrative burdens.

“I found out that's the key. Support the teachers. Just support the teachers. So one of the things that we did binawasan namin ang kanilang administrative duties. Then we hired many more teachers,” he said.

"Then we put in place a program for the retraining, re-education of our teachers kasi marami nang bago, marami nang bagong nangyayari. So maraming bagong teknolohiya that they have to learn about. So support the teachers. That's number one."