MANILA — Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday asserted that the country’s K-12 program has made significant progress in addressing its early shortcomings, saying the system now more closely aligns with global education standards.

Gatchalian, former chair of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, said in a Zoom interview with the Senate media that nearly the entire world has already adopted a K-12 system—leaving the Philippines with little choice but to keep pace.

“Almost 99% of the world is K-12,” Gatchalian said, noting that even Myanmar, despite being under military rule, completed its transition in 2019. “The global standard now is K-12.”

He acknowledged that the Philippines faced several gaps during the program’s initial rollout but said the Department of Education has since addressed key issues in Senior High School. These include decongesting the curriculum and improving certification processes for technical-vocational students—areas long criticized for weak implementation.

However, he admitted that one major concern remains only partly resolved: the duplication of general education subjects between SHS and the first years of college.

To eliminate redundancy, Gatchalian is pushing to shorten undergraduate programs from four years to three.

“My proposal is to reduce college from four years to three years to solve the redundancy between senior high school and college,” he said.

According to the senator, several higher education institutions—including De La Salle University and the University of Makati—support the proposal.

“They said it’s possible, and necessary, because some general education subjects are just being repeated,” he said.

Gatchalian maintained that these reforms would move the country closer to achieving the original goals of the K-12 program: better preparation for employment, entrepreneurship, or higher education.