Sen. Ralph G. Recto said today’s signing into law of the measure institutionalizing the “K plus 12” education would align the country with the global standards in education and likewise open more doors to children denied of their chance to step inside a classroom.

Recto said a longer learning period would keep the country at par with other countries and effectively improve the country’s quality of education.

“Our graduates would no longer be discriminated by their length of campus stay and would be measured by their talent, proficiency and world-class skills,” Recto, principal author of the Senate version of the ‘K plus 12’ bill, said.

He added: “The signing comes in the wake of a successful mid-term elections. This refocuses our poll-distracted lenses to give a 20-20 vision to our children’s future and to the much-needed reforms in education.”

President Aquino is signing the bill into law today, fresh from leading his Team PNoy senatorial candidates to an overwhelming victory.

Recto, a Liberal Party (LP) stalwart, said the signing into law of the “K plus 12” bill provides an impetus for the incoming members of the new Senate to take up reforms in education as part of their legislative agenda.

The senator successfully wrote into the proposed law the use of “mother tongue” as the medium of instruction for lower years to better facilitate and expedite learning.

Recto has cited latest global studies which confirmed that learning through the use of “mother tongue” results in “quicker comprehension.”

“Scientific studies and global trends point to multi-lingual based education using the mother tongue as becoming the standard teaching method for basic literacy all over the world,” he said.

The senator noted that in the country, the average Filipino is multi-lingual and can understand several local dialects aside from English.
The law to be signed by the President mandates the use of mother tongue from pre-school up to Grade 6 level. The mother tongue policy was also endorsed by the private and public educators.

Recto also noted that the law would send 2.5 million young pupils in pre-school or kindergarten based on the estimate of the Department of Education (DepEd).

The Congress-ratified “K plus 12” proposed law fully institutionalizes the previously-optional kindergarten into the country’s educational stepladder and effectively adds two more years to the existing four-year secondary education.