Noynoy's 10-point Education Agenda

President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" C. Aquino III, our country's current president, introduced a 10-point basic education agenda which I think will revolutionize and change our country's education system for the better (I hope). I was impressed at Noynoy's inaugural speech. He spoke the words with passion and emotion. And with the start a new era in the Philippine government, P-Noy (as he is affectionately called by the people) has set the ball rolling.

The 10-point basic education agenda has 10 reforms (obviously). As a student, I will be of course greatly affected by this. Let me share my thoughts on these reforms.

The first reform is the 12-year basic education cycle. This reform will add another 2 years to the current education system, meaning there will be Grade 7 for the elementary and 5th Year for the high-schoolers. Personally, I find this good, since we will be finally on par with other nations in terms of education. Although, I'm worried that some students will not find this easy to accept. Imagine, if this reform were to be implemented next school year, there will be a drastic change in the curriculum. If this was to be implemented immediately, then what will the teachers teach the 5th years? Therefore, there should be a period of time in which DepEd will adapt to this new system and be ready with a new educational curriculum to adapt to this change.

The second reform is universal pre-schooling for all. This states, "All public school children will have preschool as their introduction to formal schooling by 2016, and we will make this available to all children regardless of income." This reform is very advantageous. This will give incoming students, regardless of status in life, an opportunity to learn the basics of school so that when they enter elementary, they are more prepared and therefore more inspired and motivated to learn. Although, 2016 will be a long time. It will already be very near the end of Noynoy's term. I hope they implement it sooner so that more will benefit.

The third reform is Madaris education as a sub-system within the education system. This reform incorporates Islam education and Arabic lessons to the full basic education system offered to our Muslim brothers. This shows that education has no boundaries, and I'm glad Noynoy sees that in this reform.

The fourth reform is technical vocational education as an alternative stream in senior high school. This means that this reform will better prepared senior high-schoolers for the real world and the local industries that await them. This is good, considering that we have not that many technical workers in the Philippines. With this, I hope that our local industries will benefit better

The fifth reform is “Every child a reader” by Grade 1. This means that by the end of the next administration, all first graders should know how to read properly by Grade 1. I noticed that some students, even though they're already in the latter grades, don't know how to read properly. This reform will hopefully increase the level of education of our nation, and will improve the reading and comprehension skills of our young students, skills which they will need for the rest of their lives.

The sixth reform is science and math proficiency, which is pretty self-explanatory. The Philippines is falling behind the levels of science and math education of other countries. With this, I hope that our level will rise so that we will be close, if not totally on par, with the levels of other countries.'

The seventh reform is assistance to private schools as essential partners in basic education. Finally, private schools will be getting the sorely-needed attention they have been longing for. With this, private schools will become better institutions and will form a greater bond with the public schools. Also, the population of overcrowded public schools will be lessened, thanks to this.

The eighth reform is medium of instruction rationalized. This means that our educational system will be trilingual: English, Filipino, and the local dialect. This will definitely help students know more about their roots using their own dialect, which, for me, is very beneficial.

The ninth reform is quality textbooks. Some schools, especially the poorer ones, have to use dilapidated, outdated books for their students, which can be very detrimental to them. Thankfully, P-Noy is working on this. I hope that by the next school year, students will have better, newer textbooks so that their learning experience will be enriched further.

Finally, the tenth and last reform is covenant with the local governments to build more schools. This means that the national government will cooperate with the local governments to not only build more schools to accommodate the ever-increasing number of students but also address the teacher and classroom shortages. I have seen kids on TV literally squeezing in a tiny classroom and few teachers to teach all of them. Hopefully, this reform will help the deteriorating educational system of our country and help kids have a better learning experience.

So there you have it, my personal views on Noynoy's 10-point education agenda. I must say, it's a bit long (okay, it's VERY long), but that's what's in my mind, and that's what I will say. Thank you for the time you have spent listening to my ideas, and until next time, see you!