Supreme Court (SC) Spokesman Theodore O. Te said the High Court during its full court session yesterday, decided not to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the K-12 enhanced education program that adds two more years in high school.
In their pleadings, most of the petitioners told the SC that the enhanced program should be stopped until other pressing problems such as lack of classrooms and other facilities like textbooks as well as the low salary of teachers are addressed. They pointed out that the K-12 program is unconstitutional as it violates the 1987 Constitution, particularly Section 16, Article XIII as the proponents of the program failed to conduct any significant consultation with members of the sectors who will be directly affected by its implementation.
At the same time, they said the program violates Section 5, Article XIV of the Constitution. They said more than 85, 000 faculty members and non-teaching staffs in colleges and universities are in danger of losing their jobs since there will be no enrollees for the freshmen year once the two years of additional schooling in high school is implemented starting next school year.