MANILA: Senators on Thursday called on the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to sit down and plan for a seamless transition for senior high school (SHS) students who could be affected by the discontinuation of the program in state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local universities and colleges (LUCs).
Senator Grace Poe said there should be an assessment to ensure that public schools nationwide have the capacity to accept the expected influx of students.
“Hindi sila dapat gumastos ng malaki sa tuition o mapwersang hindi na mag-aral dahil walang pangtustos ang pamilya (They should not spend much for tuition or be forced to stop schooling because their families could not support them),” Poe said in a statement.
“The SHS program should hold its promise of employability and more competitive graduates, not as burden to Filipino learners.”
Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero also asked the two agencies to closely coordinate to ensure that no SHS student would be displ
aced, reiterating that while the discontinuation of the programs in SUCs and LUCs has a legal basis and is aligned with the mandate of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), all affected students should be taken care of.
“Walang dapat na maiwan at mahalaga rito na nag-uusap ang CHED at DepEd (No one should be left behind and it is important that CHED and DepEd have coordination),’ he added.
Escudero, who chairs the Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education, also said the DepEd should closely monitor, through its regional offices, if there are students in danger of being displaced once the SUCs and LUCs no longer offer the SHS program.
Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who chairs the Committee on Basic Education, suggested that to prevent any disruption in learners’ education, DepEd should proactively explore options, such as admitting these learners to public schools or facilitating their transfer to the private sector where they could benefit from the voucher program.
Gatchalian also no
ted that the DepEd, CHED, SUCs, and LUCs should also assist the teaching and non-teaching personnel who are at risk of losing their jobs.
“These teachers and non-teaching personnel helped our schools during the K to 12 transition period, which started from School Year 2016-2017. We need to ensure that they will keep their jobs once SUCs and LUCs stop offering senior high school,” Gatchalian said.
CHED Chairperson Prospero de Vera III earlier confirmed that a memorandum dated Dec. 18 has been issued, stating the “discontinuance” of the SHS Program in SUCs and LUCs in line with the commission’s previous directives through CHED Memorandum Orders 32 and 33, series of 2015 and 2016.
With this, the DepEd expressed its readiness to accommodate all SHS learners who will leave SUCs and LUCs, which was earlier assured by its regional offices.
Alternative funding
Meanwhile, Bohol Rep. Kristine Alexie Tutor said SUCs and LUCs could opt to continue offering the SHS program by finding alternative funding, such as out-
of-pocket and other sources.
She said that based on DepEd Order 20, it is only the voucher program, and not the SHS itself, that is discontinued in regards to the SUCs and LCUs.
“The offering of SHS in SUCs and LCUs is not stopped. Only the subsidy funding is. It is therefore now up to the SUCs and LCUs to decide on whether or not they can continue their SHS with the SHS students with funding from other sources and out-of-pocket. That is, if the SUCs and LCUs can have sustainable funding,” Tutor said in a statement on Thursday.
As for the CHED directive to SUCs and LCUs, Tutor cited that in Republic Act 8292 and the new Charter of the University of the Philippines, the CHED positions in the governing board of SUCs are limited to a single seat.
She further noted that in the charters of local colleges and universities, the CHED has no seat in their governing boards, but the local DepEd superintendent is a member of the board.
She said the governing board could choose to continue their SHS programs provided
they find alternative funding to make up for the government’s discontinuance of the SHS voucher program for SUCs and LCUs.
“I expect only some of the SUCs and LCUs to be financially able to continue offering SHS, but those who can should be able to. The decision is theirs, not CHED’s,” she said.
“We are already in Year 2024, long after 2021, which is the supposed end of K to 12 in SUCs and LCUs. The pandemic was the intervening event. SHS in SUCs and LCUs continues to thrive as the schools can cope and adjust.”
Source: Philippines News Agency