Manila, Philippines – July 8, 2025 —Senator Jinggoy Estrada expressed strong confidence that his proposed bill seeking to remove the Senior High School (SHS) program under the K-12 curriculum will gain approval and eventually become law.
Estrada cited the support of key government officials, including newly appointed Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sonny Angara and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who have both acknowledged ongoing issues with the implementation of the K-12 system.
“I’m confident this bill will be passed. Even Secretary Angara and President Marcos themselves have admitted there are problems with K-12. If the President himself is saying it, then the issue must be real,” said Estrada.
The senator emphasized that while his proposal to scrap SHS may invite debate in the Senate plenary—especially alongside Senator Sherwin Gatchalian’s separate proposal to reduce the duration of college education by one year—he remains firm in his position that the two additional years in high school should be removed.
Estrada refiled his proposal in the 20th Congress, arguing that the SHS program has not delivered on its promises. He cited DepEd data and admissions showing that the program has struggled with an overloaded curriculum, overburdened teachers and students, and low employment outcomes for SHS graduates. According to the senator, only 10% of SHS graduates enter the workforce—and most of them join the informal sector.
As an alternative, Estrada proposed a rationalized basic education structure: one year of kindergarten, six years of elementary education, and four years of secondary education, effectively returning to the pre-K-12 setup.
The proposal reignites a national conversation about the effectiveness of the K-12 system, which was fully implemented in 2012 with the goal of making Filipino graduates globally competitive. Critics, however, argue that it has failed to meet this objective and placed additional burdens on families and the education sector.
