MANILA (PNA) — The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) expressed support on the move to improvement the education system of the country.

In an interview over Radio Veritas 846, CBCP Public Affairs Committee chairman Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez said CBCP would support any calls to upgrade the education system, including the 12-year basic education if this will help improve the education system.

“This is a good thing to consider because we are sure that the purpose of this is to improve our educational system,” he said.

However, the Caloocan prelate said that a study should be first conducted since it involves different aspects.

“First, would this additional two years really going to contribute in improving the quality of education that is provided here in the Philippines? Second, since this is going to affect a lot of people, there’s also a need to look at the repercussion or impact of this on their livelihood,” Iniguez said.

He also said that if the government were dead-serious on the idea, they should give priority to it and release its funding.

“If the government really wants this and they are convinced that this would contribute a substantial improvement of the education of the citizen, they can provide money for that,” he said.

The Department of Education (DepEd) plans to implement a 12-year primary and secondary education program.

DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro said the program, seven years for the elementary level and five years in the secondary level, also meant that irrelevant subjects currently taught in schools would be removed while new subjects would be incorporated into the curriculum to develop the technical and vocational skills of the students.

He also said that they would try to address the perennial problems of increasing rate of student dropouts, backlogs, textbooks, and classrooms in two years time.