Just 3K enter Manila public schools for K-12

ON THE FIRST year of the nationwide implementation of K-12 program, enrollment in Manila’s public senior high schools had a low turnout but only because more students chose to enter private schools, the head of the Division of City Schools-Manila said.

Of the 16,000 students in the city who completed Grade 10, only 3,020 decided to continue their senior high school education in public schools, Supt. Wilfredo Cabral told the Inquirer on Tuesday.

The others enrolled either in private high schools, state universities and colleges or in local universities and colleges offering the senior high  program, Cabral said.

He noted, however, that around 12 percent of the city’s Grade 10 finishers have yet to enroll for Grade 11. “There’s still that culture of last-minute enrollees; some extend their vacation. We’re trying to change that culture little by little.”

According to the official, five public schools—Doña Teodora Alonzo High School in Sta. Cruz, Sergio Osmeña High School in Tondo, Victorino Mapa High School in San Miguel, Emilio Aguinaldo High School in Quiapo and Valeriano E. Fugoso Memorial School in Sampaloc—chose to defer the implementation of the K-12 system to next school year because of the low number of enrollees.

“We have 257 classrooms ready for senior high school students which can accommodate 10,000. But we have only a little over 3,000 enrollees. But we did not delete these [five] schools from our database because we are anticipating next year’s turnout to pick up,” Cabral said.

“Ultimately, we have to respect the student’s choice on where he or she wants to enroll.”