1,122 private schools get senior high permits from DepEd

As it continues to phase-in its Kindergarten to Grade 12 (K to 12) program, the Department of Education has issued provisional permits to 1,122 private schools poised to offer Senior High School (SHS).

 

The DepEd said these private schools and other institutions are to offer SHS along with more than 5,800 public schools in 2016, bringing to the total number of SHS to about 6,900.

 

"DepEd is doing everything it can to make sure that all the anxieties and fears will be addressed in the next 11 or 12 months," DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro said.

 

According to the DepEd, 1.2 to 1.6 million public school students are to enrol in SHS in 2016.

 

Of these, 800,000 to 1.1 million will proceed to DepEd SHS while the remaining 400,000 to 500,000 will enrol in non-DepEd SHS.

 

Voucher system

 

The DepEd said public school students and Education Service Contracting (ESC) grantees who will enrol in a non-DepEd SHS shall receive a subsidy from the government covering school fees through the DepEd's proposed SHS Voucher Program.

 

The DepEd statement quoted Teachers’ Dignity Coalition chairman Benjo Basas as saying they are "not against K to 12", but Basa expressed concerns over government’s preparedness to implement the program.

 

Luistro said the DepEd has been preparing for this reform since 2010.

 

“We are building close to 30,000 classrooms at the second quarter. We will be hiring around 30,000 teachers by 2016. For all of our textbooks, as early as now, we have done a call for 2016, para wala na kaming issue,” he said.

 

“On this last leg, what we need is a little encouragement, support and for them to say, 'Kakayanin iyan!' DepEd plants seeds and the harvest will happen in the next generation. I can only show where it’s leading,” he added.  — Joel Locsin/ELR, GMA News