The Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2012 (K-to-12), which would add two more years to basic education cycle will generate more jobs for the marginalized sectors in the country, House leaders said on Tuesday.

Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara of Aurora province, House Higher and Technical Education panel chairman, and Assistant Majority Leader Sherwin Tugna of Citizen’s Battle Against Corruption party-list made the pronouncement a day after the House approved the K-to-12 measure on third and final reading.

Under the K-to-12 measure, the 10-year basic education will have two additional years by dividing secondary education to two phases namely: junior high school (four years) and senior high school (two years).

Likewise, it allows the Department of Education (DepEd) and private institutions to hire graduates of technical-vocational courses to teach in their specialized subjects in the secondary education, provided that these graduates possess the necessary certification issued by Technical Education and Skills Development Authority or Tesda and they can undergo appropriate in-service trainings to be administered by the Education department.

Angara, who went to Xavier School for his elementary and secondary education and London School of Economics for his college degree, noted that K-to-12 will enable those who don’t have enough resources to finish a four-year college degree to get decent employment.

K-to-12, Angara said, is crucial considering that only one out of five college students go on to finish a college degree.

“Our high school graduates cannot be employed anymore because the manufacturing industry is down. There are not a lot of products made here. Second, there’s a low agricultural employment. With only one out of five finishing college, what would happen to the other four? K-to-12 will give them the skills, opportunity to get employed, make them more competitive,” Angara stressed during the weekly Ugnayan sa Batasan News Forum.

“It is about time that we address the job mismatch. The idea has been pending for 30 to 40 years. We are lagging behind in the world,” Angara added.

Tugna agreed, saying that K-to-12 provides a feasible alternative route considering that graduates of four-year courses are also scrambling for jobs.

“We need more skilled workers, instead of having so much manpower in the four-year graduate force,” Tugna added.

Angara, however, clarified that K-to-12 is not the panacea to unemployment.