As more Filipinos express dissatisfaction with the K-to-12 program, Rep. Roman Romulo is dangling an option for Grade 10 students: to leapfrog senior high school straight into college.

But there’s a hitch: Tenth graders must pass an “honors” examination to land into a college of their choice. Otherwise, they need to complete Grades 11 and 12, or they can opt for the technical-vocational (“tech-voc”) course.    

“The proposed honors exam will not determine if you can go to college or not, but…if you are college-ready after Grade 10,” the Pasig City lawmaker said in clarifying his pet measure, House Bill No. 11213. 

Passed on third and final reading by the House of Representatives in January, the bill is the latest attempt at reforming the K-to-12 curriculum that, observers say, has failed to deliver on its promise to produce college- and job-ready students.

A Social Weather Stations survey conducted in September 2023 showed that 5 out of 10 adult Filipinos were dissatisfied with the curriculum that added two years of senior high starting in 2013, ostensibly to make the Philippines on par with global standards.

On top of the miscellaneous costs that it entails for poor families, slogging through the original 31 subjects in two grueling years has taken a toll on students, especially during the pandemic, without a significant uptick in skills. 

The Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom 2) said senior high students spent 12 hours more than the “recommended weekly homework time.”  

Their total academic learning hours, on the other hand, “exceeded standard full-time working hours for employed adults,” the commission said in its January 2025 report, citing a 2024 De La Salle University study.

And yet, Edcom 2 said, senior high students had low proficiency levels based on the 2022 National Achievement Test, and incoming senior high students had poor reading and writing skills based on the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment.

2 pathways

Romulo, who cochairs Edcom 2, said he is offering two pathways for Grade 10: one or two more years of purely academic senior high to prepare for college, and “tech-voc” education.   

The honors exam is voluntary. He described it as a kind of advanced placement test to be designed by the Department of Education (DepEd) in order to determine a Grade 10 student’s eligibility for college. 

Students who fail it, or decide to skip it altogether, will proceed to Grades 11 and 12 or take a “tech-voc” course, he said.

“If you pass that honors exam, then you’re exempted from going through 11 and 12. You’re accelerated to first year college,’’ Romulo told CoverStory.ph in his Pasig City Hall office. “The honors exam is optional; it’s just hanging there as an option.”

To address criticisms that senior high has not produced quality graduates, the lawmaker has proposed to scrap the DepEd’s multiple tracks and strands system in favor of a purely academic track.  

“They said they’re ready for college. But the question is, how come there’s a bridging program for senior high students at SUCs and LUCs?” he said, referring to state universities and colleges, and local universities and colleges. 

From the current 15 core subjects in Grades 11 and 12, the curriculum will be trimmed down to the eight general education (or GE) subjects, said Romulo, who chaired the House committee on basic education in the 19th Congress. These will be taught in two semesters of Grade 11—at four subjects per semester—while electives will be taught in Grade 12, he said. 

The eight subjects are Understanding the Self, Contemporary World, Purposive Communication, Art Appreciation, Ethics, Readings in Philippine History, Mathematics in the Modern World, Science and Technology, and Society.  

(Beginning school year 2025–2026, the DepEd is piloting a revamped curriculum consisting of only two tracks—the technical-vocational-livelihood or TVL and academic tracks—in 800 schools. The 15 core subjects were reduced to five interdisciplinary subjects: Effective Communication, General Mathematics, General Science, Life and Career Skills, and Pag-aaral ng Kasaysayan at Lipunang Pilipino. Students’ immersion in livelihood courses was also increased from 80 hours to 640 hours.)

From DepEd to Tesda

In his bill, Romulo seeks to transfer the “tech-voc” track from the DepEd to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority or Tesda, which he is tasking along with industry boards to craft the relevant curriculum. 

“It should be industry-based,” he said. “They go straight to the industry and undergo work immersion. If there’s no industry board, let’s not force the tech-voc course. Let’s stick to the industry where there’s an existing board.”

The goal for students is to obtain a diploma or a higher certificate, such as national certificates (NC) III or IV, and secure quality jobs, the lawmaker said.

“Tech-voc” graduates are issued only NC II, which certifies their skills but stipulates that they require supervision. Romulo said it’s the kind of government certificate that will not merit the attention of, much less payment of minimum wage by, industry players. 

“NC II says you’re skilled but need guidance. So, it’s not true that you’re job-ready,” he added.   

On the other hand, Joseph Palisoc, the principal of the Batasan Hills National High School in Quezon City, lamented that industries did not adjust their hiring policy for senior high graduates. 

“Our kids are skilled; they are NC II and NC III passers. But what is the preference of industries? Senior high school graduate compared with college graduate?” Palisoc told CoverStory at the school where 15,159 students, including 755 11th graders, are enrolled.

Up in the air

It’s not certain that Romulo’s proposed “Educational Pathways Act”—co-authored by former president and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, among many others—will prosper at the Senate in the 20th Congress.

The bill has no counterpart measure in the Senate. In June, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada filed a bill seeking to scrap senior high, citing its failure to deliver on its promised benefits.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who consulted teachers, parents and students on Romulo’s bill in the last few months of the 19th Congress as chair of the Senate committee on basic education, said the proposed legislation needs further study.

With nearly all countries implementing a K-to-12 program, scrapping senior high to return to “10 years compulsory and two years non-compulsory” may not be a good idea, Gatchalian said in an interview over Zoom.

“We might be backtracking from the global standard,” he said. “And the repercussions might [involve] employment opportunities for our [overseas workers], education opportunities for those who want to study abroad.” 

Besides, the proposed honors exam may not jibe with the DepEd’s K-to-10 Matatag curriculum launched in 2023, said the senator, who also cochairs Edcom 2 along with Romulo. 

He added: “We just reformed our K-to-10. And the reform is not designed for students to be college-ready; it’s designed to make them holistic. So, if you will test the student [for being] college-ready, it will not detect that because the curriculum is not designed to do that.    

“Because if you will have an honors exam and your curriculum is not designed for that student to pass the honors exam, we will have unexpected results. Everyone will fail. We need to study that very carefully.”

And whether the training and courses offered by existing “tech-voc” institutes across the country align with industry needs is another matter, according to Gatchalian. “For me, there’s merit in studying the Pathways proposal. But we have to look at the bigger picture,” he said.

Read more: Filipino students’ functional illiteracy is a ‘real and widespread learning crisis’