UMak adopts senior high school scheme for good

The Senior High School Program under the Department of Education’s “K to 12” scheme will now be a permanent fixture in the University of Makati (UMak), which was the first in Metro Manila to test the proposal to add two years to the country’s basic education cycle.

When classes opened this school year, the local government-run UMak counted its college-bound freshmen as Grade 11 students.

In a statement on Tuesday, Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay said the city government is up for the challenge in trying out the DepEd’s new basic education cycle.

Binay said he agreed with the DepEd’s position that K to 12 is aligned with the needs of today’s industries and provides an integrated lifelong learning program for students.

Binay, DepEd and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) are scheduled to sign an agreement today that will institutionalize the senior high school program and define the roles of the three agencies involved.

Graduates of the senior high school program dubbed as “High School ng UMak” (HSU) will undergo Tesda assessment for national skills certification and then either stay in UMak to earn a college degree or explore job and business opportunities.

The model is seen as a way for the DepEd to identify best practices and refine its plans in preparation for the nationwide implementation of Grades 11 and 12 starting in 2016.

Meanwhile, UMak president Tomas Lopez explained that because of the program, the school has been receiving visitors from two or more schools from all over the country almost daily.

At present, the program covers 90 sections with 4,973 Grade 11 students. “These enrollees took the place of our freshmen university students, and the program has entailed dramatic changes in our curriculum and schedule of classes,” Lopez said.

Lopez said that aside from the core and mandatory subjects (Filipino, English, Math, Science and Physical Studies) being offered, the enhanced curriculum they have developed for the program includes specialized subjects.

These are Science and Technology, Business Education, Information Technology, Business Process Outsourcing, Performing and Broadcasting Arts, Athletics, and Allied Health Services.

It also offers training programs for teaching, basic disaster risk reduction management, and foreign languages like Nihonggo and Mandarin.

UMak will also give credits to all the courses offered under the K to 12 modeling program if the senior high school students wish to transfer to another school and pursue higher education.

The K to 12 program is a revision of the country’s 10-year basic education system which consists of six years in elementary and four years in high school. The new scheme has kindergarten as its base, followed by six years in elementary (Grades 1 to 6), four years in junior high school (Grades 7 to 10), and two years in senior high (Grades 11 to 12).

Earlier, Education Secretary Armin Luistro expressed optimism that the senior high school program would help convince parents and students that finishing secondary education is more than just a preparation for college but also enough to equip them for stable employment and promising careers.