MANILA –– Two senators on Tuesday joined the call for a thorough review of the country’s basic education system, with the hope of improving the Filipino students' opportunity to learn more.

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Senate President Vicente Sotto III in an interview welcomed the incoming administration’s plan to review the K to 12 program.

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Sotto, who was among those who opposed the program years ago, specified the need to thoroughly check the curriculum, particularly the contents of every subject.

He stressed the need to revert History and Social Studies subjects to their old form and length, or treat them as individual disciplines.

“Dapat talagang i-review 'yung curriculum. Review-in na rin natin 'yung qualifications saka 'yung tinatawag na kalagayan ng mga teachers. Hindi lang 'yung curriculum. Marami yatang nawala na magagandang subjects na pinag-uusapan... Ang daming walang alam sa History. Nakakapagtaka,” Sotto said.

For him, the DepEd's K to 12 program failed also because of “cultural” issues.

He noted that employers still look at K to 12 graduates only as high school finishers, in contrast to the program's original thrust.

“Depende kasi sa kultura, eh. Baka sa kultura sa ibang bansa, puwede 'yon. Baka sa atin, hindi... Hindi tumalab 'yung K to 12 sa mga businesses, sa mga employers. Ang hinahanap pa rin, college graduate. That is the sad fact," Sotto lamented.

Sen. Nancy Binay also sees the need to reform the country’s education system, citing what for her is the deterioration of the quality of students now.

Binay stressed, though, that students must still complete the 12 year-school program in compliance with international standards.

“I think it’s time to review the K-12, not to stop it but to enhance the quota. Kasi kailangan talaga natin na 12 years yung schooling ng mga bata,” she said.

“Parang lahat kailangang i-improve yung mga subjects natin. For me, hindi lang isa eh. For me, it’s the whole system,” she added.

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Sen. Sonny Angara on Monday also agreed with the need to review the K to 12 program, not with the objective of abandoning it, but only because, for him, it is not being implemented properly.

"Yung pangako na may maayos na Science track or Arts and Sports track for Grades 11-12, 'di nakikita yan sa lahat ng parte ng bansa. Isa lang 'yan sa maraming pag-uusapan dapat sa implementasyon ng K-12," he said in a statement.

(The promise of a good Science track, or Arts and Sports track for Grades 11-12 is not achieved in all parts of the country. This is only one of the many issues that must be discussed regarding the implementation of the K to 12 program.)

"Funding is one of the issues that needs addressing," he added.

The K to 12 basic education program was first introduced by the Department of Education in 2011, with the rolling out that year of mandatory kindergarten education for children at least 5 years old as a prerequisite for Grade 1.

It is expected to be fully implemented by 2024, when kindergarten students in 2011 would have already completed Grade 12.

Aside from strengthening the basic education curriculum, the K to 12 program scraps the country's previous 10-year basic education system, consisting of six years of grade school and four years of high school. In its place, it mandates Filipinos to complete six years of grade school, four years of junior high school, and two years of senior high school.

The government said in 2015 that the Philippines at that time was the last country in Asia and one of only three countries across the world that practiced a 10-year pre-university cycle.

In the senior high school level, students may take any of the following tracks: academic (that includes science and technology, engineering, mathematics, accountancy, business and management, humanities and social sciences, and general academic courses); technical-vocational-livelihood; arts and design; and sports.

This would prepare them to get jobs even without a college degree, something that business groups find vital.

"K to 12 is a means by which we are able to produce more mature and more competent high school graduates who can actually get employed, and at the same time, go to college," then Commission on Higher Education official Cynthia Bautista said in 2015.

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Vice President-elect Sara Duterte, who will head the DepEd during the administration of incoming President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, has said that the latter wants a review of the K to 12 program.

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Marcos said his discussion with Duterte about the K to 12 program included its necessity and "the question of when we start to teach in English, when we move from the lingua franca to English."

Ensuring the welfare and competency of teachers is also among his reminders to Duterte when she takes the helm of the Department of Education, he told a news conference on Monday.

"We have to do a lot to recover our very good grading before. Pagka-tayo tinitingnan ng Asia, yung literacy rate, yung pagsalita ng Ingles, pati sa Science, sa Math, mataas tayo noon eh. Kailangan natin balikan 'yan," Marcos said.

(When Asia would be assessed in terms of literacy rate, fluency in the English language, in Science and in Math, we ranked high before. We need to regain that status.)

"Mahirap mag-compete kung hindi natin ayusin yung training ng mga kabataan natin," he added.

(It's hard to compete if we don't fix the training of our youth.)

- with report from Kyodo News

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