Angara says Congress has final say on K-12

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

June 7, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Education Secretary Sonny Angara said the future of the K-12 program rests in the hands of Congress, as debates resurface over its effectiveness and relevance.

“The decision whether or not to continue the SHS is up to the discretion of Congress,” he said.

This comes after Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada filed Senate Bill 3001, which seeks to scrap the senior high school (SHS) component of the K-12 program.

Under the proposed measure, the education cycle would be reduced to one year of kindergarten, six years of elementary and four years of high school.

Ahead of any legislative action, Angara maintained that efforts are still being made to improve the SHS curriculum through the pilot implementation of the amended program starting school year 2025–2026.

“The implementation (of SHS) was not good this past decade. There were many subjects but the students were not allowed to choose their subjects,” he said, noting that the planned revisions aim to address these long-standing issues of the curriculum.

More than 800 schools are expected to participate in the pilot implementation. Of the pilot schools, 580 are public schools while 261 are private schools.

Under the revised curriculum, students won’t be confined to a single track. The current four tracks (Academic, Technical-Vocational-Livelihood, Sports and Arts & Design) will also be streamlined into just two: Academic and Technical Professional (TechPro). Arts & Design and Sports electives will now fall under the Academic track.

Core subjects, meanwhile, will be cut down from 15 to five, focusing on Effective Communication, Life and Career Skills, General Mathematics, General Science and Philippine History and Society.

School year 2025 to 2026 is scheduled to open on June 16.