PUBLIC high schools in four cities in the National Capital Region (NCR) will not offer senior high school, according to the initial list made available by the Department of Education (DepEd).
As of May 5, public high schools in the cities of Caloocan, Makati, Parañaque and San Juan were not cleared to offer senior high school come June 2016.
In the cities mentioned, a total of 66 private schools have been cleared by DepEd to offer senior high school.
On the other hand, the cities of Pasig, Mandaluyong, Las Piñas and Muntinlupa each have a public school which will offer senior high school.
Quezon City has the most number of public high schools which will offer senior high school in 13 educational institutions.
In the NCR, only 43 public high schools in contrast to 287 private high schools or higher educational institutions were allowed so far to hold senior high school classes.
Militant youth group League of Filipino Students expressed concern over the low number of public high schools in the NCR which will offer senior high school, adding that this “furthers privatizing basic education under the K-12 program.”
“This is beyond despicable! The Aquino [administration] is abandoning its duty to provide free public education to the Filipino youth. Clearly, K-12 is a move to privatize and commercialize basic education. This explains the fact that private high schools and PHEIs approved to offer senior high outnumber public high schools,” LFS national spokesperson Charisse Bañez said in a statement.
Meanwhile, LFS also slammed the recent spate of tuition hikes approved by DepEd in 1,246 private schools in the country.
“The Aquino [administration] chooses to turn a blind eye to the reality that their K-12 program is bound to fail. But the Filipino people will not be fooled. We want the K-12 program junked,” Bañez added.
DepEd has earlier stated that at least 5,800 schools will offer grades 11 and 12.
Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro FSC said that every municipality in the country would offer the senior high school program.
“Wala pong munisipyo, kahit gaano kaliit, ang mawawalan ng senior high school (No municipality, no matter how small, will be without senior high school),” Luistro said in a statement.
The DepEd will also implement a voucher system to finance the education of students from public high school to enroll in private schools for their senior high school. The subsidy for each student will range from P8,750 to P22,500.
Senior high school is one of the key features of the government’s K-to-12 program. Under the two-year program, students are expected “to be equipped and ready for employment, entrepreneurship, or higher learning, further education and training.”
In the senior high school program, students can choose to pursue one of the four tracks: technical-vocational-livelihood track; sports track, arts and design track, and the academic track.
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