Kindergarten soon to be mandatory

Kindergarten soon to be mandatory - DepEd

Wednesday, 22 February 2012 15:28 Janvic Mateo

President Benigno Aquino III signed last month a law requiring all children to finish a year in kindergarten before they can be admitted to primary school.

The Department of Education (DepEd) began disseminating copies of the Republic Act No. 10157, or the Kindergarten Education Act, to school officials throughout the country last week, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports

The RA 10157 makes kindergarten “the first stage of compulsory and mandatory formal education.” It was signed into law last January 20 and will formally be enacted in a ceremony in Malacanang on February 27.

According to the Business Mirror, the law also states that the pupils' mother tongue must be used as the primary medium of instruction. It likewise requires the Commission of Filipino Language to create a "multilingual framework” that will be used in teaching kindergarten students.
The DepEd is also mandated by the law to create a new division under the Bureau of Elementary Education. This division will be in charge of implementing the law, hiring and training kindergarten teachers, as well as providing classrooms, textbooks and other needed facilities.

The passage of the law requiring all five-year old children to be enrolled in kindergarten is a necessary aspect of DepEd's K-12 (kindergarten to 12 years basic education) program.

Last year, the department already implemented the mandatory kindergarten rule through a memorandum. It said that the move was in support of the then-universal kindergarten proposal in Congress.

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites