EDUCATION REFORM

(ITS HISTORY)
Education reform is the name given to a
demand with the goal of improving education.
Small improvements in education theoretically
have large social returns, in health, wealth and
well-being. Historically, reforms have taken
different forms because the motivations of
reformers have differed. A stated motivation
has been to reduce cost to students and society

From the ancient times until the 1800s, one goal

was to reduce the expense of a classical education.
Ideally, classical education is undertaken with a
highly educated full-time (extremely expensive)
personal tutor. Historically, this was available only to
the most wealthy. Encyclopedias, public libraries and
grammar schools are examples of innovations
intended to lower the cost of a classical education.

Related reforms attempted to develop similar classical results by

concentrating on "why", and "which" questions neglected by
classical education. Abstract, introspective answers to these
questions can theoretically compress large amounts of facts into
relatively few principles. This path was taken by some
Transcendentalist educators, such as Amos Bronson Alcott. In the
early modern age, Victorian schools were reformed to teach
commercially useful topics, such as modern languages and
mathematics, rather than classical subjects, such as Latin and
Greek.

Many reformers focused on reforming society by

reforming education on more scientific, humanistic,
pragmatic or democratic principles. John Dewey,
and Anton Makarenko are prominent examples of
such reformers.

Some reformers incorporated several

motivations, e.g. Maria Montessori, who both
"educated for peace" (a social goal), and to "meet
the needs of the child," (A humanistic goal.)

In historic Prussia, an important motivation for

the invention of Kindergarten was to foster national
unity by teaching a national language while
children were young enough that learning a
language was easy.

The reform has taken many forms and directions.

Throughout history and the present day, the
meaning and methods of education have changed
through debates over what content or experiences
result in an educated individual or an educated
society.

WHO CAN IMPLEMENT CHANGES?

Changes may be implemented by

individual educators and/or by broadbased school organization and/or by
curriculum changes with performance
evaluations.

EDUCATION: REFORMS IN BASIC

EDUCATION UNDERWAY
On May 15, Aquino signed into law Republic Act
10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013,
which institutionalizes the Kindergarten (K) to 12
program. The law adds two years to basic education:
six years of primary education (Grades 1 to 6), four
years of junior high school (Grades 7 to 10), and two
years of senior high school (Grades 11 to 12).

In line with the K to 12 program, which

aims to prepare high school graduates for
employment, Aquino is also re-introducing
technical-vocational education in public high
schools, making students, who cannot afford
to pay for college education, ready for work
after graduation.

The Aquino administration is also currently

on track to close the classroom gap by the end
of 2013 with the education department's
construction of new classrooms to address the
66,800 shortage. Moreover, Aquino said last
year there is no longer a shortage of
textbooks.

For the Muslim community, Aquino launched last

February the "Sajahatra Bangsamoro," a program
that seeks to deliver education, health and livelihood
services to communities of the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF). The education sevice
include college scholarships and technicalvocational training from the Commission on Higher
Education and Technical Education and Skills
Development Authority, and educational assistance
from the DepEd to Madaris (Islamic schools).

In line with Aquino's aim to help every

child become a reader by Grade 1, the
education department declared last 2011
the month of November as the National
Reading Month. The nationwide
synchronized reading program will be
held every first Monday of the month.

The Teachers' Dignity Coalition said more

students are transferring from private schools to
public schools due to higher tuition in private
educational institutions. Due to this, the group
said some public schools now have a teacherstudent ratio of 1:50. Moreover, some teachers
are also reportedly leaving private schools to
work in public schools which offer higher
salaries and benefits.

Meanwhile,

Aquino's promise of re-establishing

the Philippine National Games (PNG) is currently
in progress.
The

2013 edition of the PNG was held in June at

various venues around Metro Manila.

A Philippine Star report said the athletes who

showed promise in the PNG may be called up to be
part of national teams. But as of now, it remains to
be seen if any of the athletes who showed promise
in the PNG will be included in the national team
pool for the 2013 Southeast Asian Games to be held
in Myanmar in December.