Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 3) — The Department of Education (DepEd) on Wednesday said senior high school students currently enrolled in higher education institutions will be accepted in public basic education schools.
DepEd Undersecretary Michael Poa said they also have the option to enroll in private schools.
“In such case they can also apply and avail of the SHS Voucher,” Poa noted.
“Based on the reports of our Regional Directors, our public schools will be able to accommodate those that may be displaced,” Poa said.
The Commission on Higher Education earlier issued a reminder to local and state universities and colleges to discontinue their senior high school program as it was only allowed during the K-12 transition period from school years 2016-2017 and 2020-2021.
Poa said no current voucher recipients will be affected by the reminder as the financial assistance application system no longer accepted grade 11 learners in schools tagged as SUCs or LUCs.
In a separate statement on Wednesday, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman J. Prospero “Popoy” De Vera III said they are willing to help implement the transition. However, he emphasized that this should be led by the DepEd and the Board of Regents because the mandate falls under the basic and secondary education which is not covered by the CHED.
He said state universities and public colleges will no longer accept senior high school students because the government’s voucher program only covers the transitional period, which ended in 2021.
He also stressed that public universities are already packed with senior high school students, even resulting in the use of faculty rooms to accommodate classes, the CHED chief added.
“Iyong mga mayroon pang Grade 12, mayroon pa – patatapusin pa nila iyong Grade 12. Ang wala na, iyong hindi na sila tatanggap ng bagong estudyante for Grade 11, iyan ang hindi dapat nila gagawin kasi nga wala nang legal basis to do it,” CHED Sec. De Vera said.
[Translation: Those public higher education schools that have already accepted Grade 12 students can still allow the students to finish Grade 12 there. However, they cannot accept Grade 11 students anymore. They should not accept it for the coming years because it has no legal basis anymore.]
Exemptions
De Vera noted that “laboratory schools” and other similar set-up like public universities such as Mindanao State University may be exempted since these institutions have long before accepted high school students.
“Pero nakalagay na sa batas na ang mga public universities cannot charge tuition fees anymore. So, there is an issue on how you will subsidize the expenses for your laboratory school or your laboratory high school. So iyan din kailangan pag-usapan ng kanilang board of regents,” he added.
[Translation: But the law states that public universities cannot charge tuition fees anymore. So there is an issue on how you will subsidize the expenses for your laboratory school or your laboratory high school. The board of regents should address that.]
Based on current enrollment, the DepEd said there are around 17,000 grade 11 students in SUCs and LUCs. Poa said he is still waiting for regional reports to confirm the number.
