Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013

Basic education and program structure (K–12)

Section 3 defines basic education as intended to meet basic learning needs providing the foundation for subsequent learning.
Section 3 provides that basic education encompasses kindergarten, elementary and secondary education, and alternative learning systems for out-of-school learners and those with special needs.
Section 4 establishes the enhanced basic education program to encompass, in sequence, at least one (1) year of kindergarten, six (6) years of elementary, and six (6) years of secondary education.
Section 4 provides that secondary education includes four (4) years of junior high school and two (2) years of senior high school education.
Section 4 requires that basic education be delivered in languages understood by learners, because language plays a strategic role in learners’ formative years.

Mother tongue and language-of-instruction rules

Section 4 defines mother language or first language (LI) as the language or languages first learned by a child, which the child identifies with, is identified as a native language user by others, knows best, or uses most.
Section 4 expressly includes Filipino sign language as part of mother language for individuals with pertinent disabilities.
Section 4 defines regional or native language as the traditional speech variety or variety of Filipino sign language existing in a region, area or place.
Section 4 requires instruction, teaching materials and assessment for kindergarten and the first three (3) years of elementary education to be in the regional or native language of learners.
Section 4 directs the Department of Education (DepED) to formulate a mother language transition program from Grade 4 to Grade 6 so that Filipino and English are gradually introduced as languages of instruction until these two (2) languages become the primary languages of instruction at the secondary level.

Curriculum development standards and governance

Section 5 requires the DepED to formulate the design and details of the enhanced basic education curriculum.
Section 5 mandates the DepED to work with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to craft harmonized basic and tertiary curricula for the global competitiveness of Filipino graduates.
Section 5 requires coordination among the DepED, CHED, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to ensure college readiness and to avoid remedial and duplication of basic education subjects.
Section 5 requires the DepED to undertake consultations with national government agencies and stakeholders including the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), private and public schools associations, national student organizations, national teacher organizations, parents-teachers associations, and chambers of commerce on matters affecting concerned stakeholders.
Section 5 obligates the curriculum to meet standards and principles that it be: (a) learner-centered, inclusive and developmentally appropriate; (b) relevant, responsive and research-based; (c) culture-sensitive; (d) contextualized and global; (e) using constructivist, inquiry-based, reflective, collaborative and integrative pedagogical approaches; (f) aligned with Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) starting from what learners already know and moving from known to unknown, with instructional materials and capable teachers available; (g) using the spiral progression approach to ensure mastery after each level; and (h) flexible enough for schools to localize, indigenize and enhance based on educational and social contexts.
Section 5 directs encouragement of locally produced teaching materials and provides that approval of these materials shall be devolved to the regional and division education units.

Curriculum Consultative Committee oversight

Section 6 creates a curriculum consultative committee chaired by the DepED Secretary or a duly authorized representative.
Section 6 requires the committee to include members (among others) from the CHED, TESDA, DOLE, PRC, Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and a representative from business chambers such as the IT-BPO industry association.
Section 6 empowers the committee to oversee the review and evaluation of the implementation of the basic education curriculum.
Section 6 allows the committee to recommend to the DepED formulation of necessary refinements in the curriculum.

Teacher education, training, and leadership programs

Section 7 requires the DepED and CHED, in collaboration with relevant partners in government, academe, industry, and nongovernmental organizations, to conduct teacher education and training programs specified by the Act.
Section 7(a) mandates in-service training for current DepED teachers to be retrained to meet the content and performance standards of the new K to 12 curriculum.
Section 7(a) requires the DepED to ensure private education institutions are given the opportunity to avail of such training.
Section 7(b) mandates training of new teachers, providing that new graduates of the current Teacher Education curriculum must undergo additional training upon hiring to upgrade skills to the content standards of the new curriculum.
Section 7(b) requires CHED, in coordination with DepED and relevant stakeholders, to ensure that the Teacher Education curriculum offered in Teacher Education Institutes (TEIs) meets necessary quality standards for new teachers.
Section 7(b) requires duly recognized TEI organizations, in coordination with DepED, CHED and other stakeholders, to ensure TEI curricula meet necessary quality standards for trained teachers.
Section 7(c) requires professional development for school leaders, including superintendents, principals, subject area coordinators and other instructional school leaders, through workshops and training.
Section 7 requires that professional development programs be initiated and conducted regularly throughout the school year to ensure constant upgrading of teacher skills.

Hiring rules for shortage-specialists

Section 8 directs hiring rules notwithstanding Sections 26, 27 and 28 of Republic Act No. 7836 (the “Philippine Teachers Professionalization Act of 1994”).
Section 8(a) allows the DepED and private education institutions to hire, for elementary and secondary specialized subjects, graduates of science, mathematics, statistics, engineering, music and other degree courses with shortages in qualified Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) applicants.
Section 8(a) states that qualified LET applicants include graduates admitted by foundations duly recognized for their expertise in the education sector who complete requirements set by those organizations.
Section 8(a) requires that the hired graduates pass the LET within five (5) years after their date of hiring.
Section 8(a) provides that if graduates are willing to teach on a part-time basis, the LET requirement no longer applies.
Section 8(b) allows the hire of graduates of technical-vocational courses to teach specialized subjects in secondary education, provided they possess the necessary certification issued by TESDA and undergo appropriate in-service training administered by DepED or HEIs at the expense of DepED.
Section 8(c) allows HEI faculty to teach in general education or subject specialties in secondary education, provided they hold a relevant bachelor’s degree and have satisfactorily served as full-time HEI faculty.
Section 8(d) allows the hire of practitioners with expertise in specialized learning areas offered by the Basic Education Curriculum to teach at the secondary level on part-time basis only, and requires that DepED, in coordination with appropriate government agencies, determine necessary qualification standards.

Career guidance and counselling for schools

Section 9 requires the DepED, in coordination with DOLE, TESDA and CHED, to regularly conduct career advocacy activities for secondary level students to guide student career track choice.
Section 9 authorizes career and employment guidance counsellors who are not registered and licensed guidance counsellors to conduct career advocacy activities to secondary level students of the school where they are currently employed.
Section 9 provides an exception notwithstanding Section 27 of Republic Act No. 9258 (the “Guidance and Counselling Act of 2004”).
Section 9 requires such counsellors to undergo a training program to be developed or accredited by DepED.

Expansion of E-GASTPE benefits

Section 10 extends the benefits under Republic Act No. 8545 (the “Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education Act”) to qualified students enrolled under the enhanced basic education.
Section 10 requires DepED to engage the services of private education institutions and non-DepED schools offering senior high school through RA 8545 programs and other financial arrangements formulated by DepED and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) based on public-private partnership principles.

Funding and operationalization

Section 11 requires the Secretary of Education to include in the DepED program the operationalization of the enhanced basic education program.
Section 11 provides that initial funding shall be charged against the current appropriations of DepED.
Section 11 requires that the amount necessary for continued implementation be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.

Transition, implementation support, and transition period

Section 12 requires DepED, CHED and TESDA to formulate strategies and mechanisms for smooth transition from the existing ten (10) years basic education cycle to the K to 12 cycle.
Section 12 provides that transition strategies may cover changes in physical infrastructure, manpower, organizational and structural concerns, bridging models linking Grade 10 competencies and entry requirements of new tertiary curricula, and partnerships between government and other entities.
Section 12 authorizes modelling for senior high school in selected schools to simulate the transition process and provide data for the transition plan.
Section 12 requires DepED to engage in partnerships with HEIs and TVIs for the utilization of their human and physical resources to manage initial implementation and mitigate expected multi-year low enrolment turnout for HEIs and TVIs starting School Year 2016-2017.
Section 12 requires coordination among DepED, CHED, TESDA, TVIs and HEIs to ensure HEIs and TVIs’ academic, physical, financial and human resource capabilities to provide educational and training services for graduates of the enhanced basic education program and to ensure they are not adversely affected.
Section 12 provides that HEI and TVI faculty allowed to teach students of secondary education under Section 8 are given priority in hiring during the transition period.
Section 12 requires that the transition period be provided for in the implementing rules and regulations (IRR).

Congressional oversight and mandatory evaluation

Section 13 creates a Joint Oversight Committee to oversee, monitor and evaluate implementation of the Act.
Section 13 establishes that the Oversight Committee has five (5) members each from the Senate and House of Representatives, including the Chairs of the Committees on Education, Arts and Culture, and Finance of both Houses.
Section 13 requires each House’s committee membership to have at least two (2) opposition or minority members.
Section 14 mandates that by the end of School Year 2014-2015, DepED conducts a mandatory review and submits a midterm report to Congress.
Section 14 requires the midterm report to cover K to 12 status of implementation in terms of closing shortages in: (a) teachers; (b) classrooms; (c) textbooks; (d) seats; (e) toilets; and (f) other shortages that should be addressed.
Section 14 requires the midterm report to include key metrics of access to and quality of basic education, including: participation rate; retention rate; National Achievement Test results; completion rate; teachers’ welfare and training profiles; adequacy of funding requirements; and other learning facilities including computer and science laboratories, libraries and library hubs, and sports, music and arts.

International benchmarks and IRR

Section 15 requires DepED to endeavor to increase per capita spending on education toward the immediate attainment of international benchmarks.
Section 16 mandates that within ninety (90) days after the Act’s effectivity, the DepED Secretary, CHED Chairperson and TESDA Director-General promulgate the rules and regulations needed for implementation.

Separability, repeals, and effectivity

Section 17 provides that if any provision of the Act is held invalid or unconstitutional, the validity and effectivity of other provisions are not affected.
Section 18 repeals or modifies, as applicable, pertinent provisions of Batas Pambansa Blg. 232, Republic Act No. 9155, Republic Act No. 9258, Republic Act No. 7836, and all other laws, decrees, executive orders and rules and regulations contrary to or inconsistent with the Act.
Section 19 provides that the Act takes effect fifteen (15) days after publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Issuance details and legislative timeline

Republic Act No. 10533 is titled “Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013.”
Republic Act No. 10533 was approved May 15, 2013.
Republic Act No. 10533 is enacted as Republic Act No. 10533 and is represented as a consolidation of Senate Bill No. 3286 and House Bill No. 6643, finally passed by the Senate and House on January 30, 2013.
Section 1 provides the short title “Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013.”