K TO 12

DEPED Philippines new K-to-12 program

This article will discuss

1. The implications of the DEPED introduced K TO 12 Program in the Philippines.
2. Its effect on the sport and challenges face.
3. I will also suggest ways to improve or counter the effects of the K TO 12. For this case study i will use the sport of Track and Field. But this case study can also be applied to other sports.

Firstly lets outline what is the K TO 12?

General information on this topic can be found on the DEPED Website. An outline is as follows

The K TO 12 Program covers 13 years of basic education with the following key stages:

• Kindergarten to Grade 3
• Grades 4 to 6
• Grades 7 to 10 (Junior High School)
• Grades 11 and 12 (Senior High School)

So lets look at the ages. While Elementary has been unaffected. The big change is two extra years of senior high school must be completed before students can enter college in the Philippines. Whether this applies for attending college overseas may vary on a case to case basis.

Usually a student will start high school at age 13. So by the time they finish 4 years of high school they will be 16. They will be 17 or 18 when they end high school and 19 when they start University. If the student was say 14 they would start University Age 20.

How This will effect the Palaro: Split into two age grades

The maximum age for the Palaro was 17, however the DEPED has now raised this age limit to 18. This will allow most senior high school athletes to participate.

Yet this is good as it will allow a big improvement on Palarong Pambansa Records. Palarong Pambansa Records lag behind New Zealand and Australian high school records. As of 2015 in New Zealand the 100m boys record is 10.60 while in Australia its 10.44, in the Philippines the Phi High school record is 11.04 (10.8 hand timed) in comparison. These countries have much smaller populations than the Philippines.

While this now means that 13 year old athletes will now be competing against 18 year olds. There is a big difference physically in the limitations of the said ages in athletes for both girls and boys.

This also means athletes who happen to have started late and are still in senior high school who are 19 already will not be able to play in the Palaro, and they have no other meets except the PNG and National Open. As they are not yet in college.

The suggestion for the DEPED the organizers of the Palaro is to do what New Zealand and Australia does, and that is to divide the 13,14,15,16,17,18,19 or 7 years of different age grades into two a 15 and below category and a 16 and above category. In New Zealand Secondary Schools the maximum age is 19.5 which caters for New Zealand’s 5 year high school system with some students opting to do 6 years to further there University advancement later.

UAAP and NCAA High School Grades

Also in the UAAP Divisions and NCAA there is no established competition for girls High school as of yet. The maximum age for these two boys categories is also 18 which means boys who enroll in Manila are also not eligible.

However once the age of the NCAA and UAAP is increased, and possibly also the Palaro to 19 and girls is also included. It is expected alot of athletes from the province will probably exodus to Manila where they will have both a Palaro and UAAP Competition or atleast a UAAP Competition to participate in as most provincial levels do not provide adequate meets for the athletes.

TO READ ABOUT UAAP Residency and Eligiblity Rules