‘Administrative issues’ hound K to 12 transition program, study says

"Administrative issues" hound the K to 12 Transition Program of the Commission on Higher Education, which forced some students to drop out of school, according to a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies.

Alex Brillantes, author of the study, noted that one of the major problems faced by the program was the inadequate preparation of CHED to implement it.

Established in 2015, the Transition Program was designed to mitigate the negative impacts of an ensure the smooth transition” to K to 12.  It aimed to assist higher education institutions in updating their curriculum and faculty members by giving them opportunities for professional development, such as international and local scholarships for graduate studies and training programs.

However, the study said that CHED was not prepared to carry out the transition program.  It noted that CHED “had a difficult time adjusting to the demands of the program due to the high volume of work that came with its roll out.”

“These problems have resulted in delays in the processing of applications for scholarships and grants. Moreover, the delays in processing allowances had forced some scholars to drop out of the program,” the study said.

To illustrate the massive volume of work, the study cited the unit handling local scholarship applications.  It said the current ratio of project technical staff to local scholarship application is 1 to 1,384.

“The lack of an automated system for processing applications and the inadequate record-keeping system have led to misplacement of documents submitted by the applicants.  Gaps were also seen in the program’s monitoring and evaluation system,” the study added.

Brillantes urged continuous review of the Transition Program with stakeholders to make it responsive to the needs of K to 12.  He also proposed that CHED hire additional regular staff to augment its manpower needs.

The study conducted a process evaluation of the transition program from July to December 2017 through a series of interviews and focus group discussions, as well as reviews of documents among K to 12 stakeholders.— Joviland Rita/ LDF, GMA News