DepEd’s Luistro: ‘No excuse not to implement K-12’

Education Secretary Armin Luistro on Tuesday said they are on track in their preparations for the implementation of senior high school leg of the K-12 program.

In its midterm report to the Senate, Luistro said given the interagency efforts for the reform, “There is no excuse for us not to implement the K-12 program.”

The senior high school program will begin in 2016 with Grade 11.

“The pace is manageable,” Luistro said in a press conference after the hearing in the Senate. “We are overstretched, pero nakatawa pa naman sila (DepEd staff).”

According to Luistro, there are 5,899 schools that will offer the two grade levels, including 267 stand-alone senior high schools.

Moreover, 333 non-DepEd schools—private, as well as colleges and universities—have been issued permits for senior high in 2014 and 2015, and 1,866 others that applied for the same are already approved.

He said these are “more than enough” to welcome at least 1.2 million students expected to enter Grade 11. He added numbers can go up to 1.6 million, since there are high school graduates from the old curriculum who may wish to get the extra two years under the K-12 program.

“The budget allows us to go beyond 1.2 million,” Luistro said. “We can take in, for example, graduates from 2010 that didn't go to college who may be interested in pursuing senior high school.”

According to DepEd, 30,000 classrooms, or more than 70 percent, of those constructed for 2015 are for the senior high school program.

New teachers

When the final leg of the K-12 begins in 2016, a total of 30,000 teaching positions will be available.

Luistro said the DepEd's priority for job openings will be faculty members of colleges and universities that may face displacement because of the program.

The senior high school program, which aims to better prepare students for either employment or higher education, will offer four tracks, including:

* academic
* technical-vocational-livelihood
* sports
* arts and design.

“K-12 is a means to produce more mature, more competent graduates,” said Commission on Higher Education Commissioner Cynthia Rose Bautista. “It's not just the additional years, it's the entire change in curriculum.”

Luistro said they are expecting all those who will finish Grade 10 to proceed to senior high school, since it is a definite step as prescribed by the program.

He said unlike now, where about 800,000 students no longer proceed to college, high school students in 2016 will have more options since the program is free.

“Kung ang tanong ay accessibility, mado-doble, kung hindi mati-triple, 'yung kanilang options, kung saan sila pupunta," he said, adding that expenses will also be less than what families spend for their children in college.

Voucher program

The DepEd has also launched a subsidy system for public school students who may wish to attend private senior high schools.

The voucher program under the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) Program will provide voucher values as follows:

* 100 percent (public junior high school student)
* 80 percent (private school student under the Education Service Contracting)
* 50 percent (students who will enroll in state or local university or college).

The voucher values will range from a minimum of P8,750 to a maximum of P22,500 depending on the area where the student is in (National Capital Region, other highly-urbanized areas, other cities and municipalities).

According to Luistro, the rates are based on what it costs to send a student to a public school set side-by-side with the average fees in private schools.

“Nakabase sa average na na-experience natin,” he said. “Palaging may magsasabi na sana mas mataas. Gusto rin namin na mas mataas, pero kung pupunta kami sa Kongreso, kailangan ay 'yung akma lang.” —KBK, GMA News