On the article of Linda B.

Bohido(May 2016) published in Philippine Daily inquirer, she

wrote the following issue entitled. “Scholarships, voucher program to help ease K-12 birthing

pains”first Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities (Faith) was among the 333 schools

allowed by the Department of Education (DepEd) to pioneer senior high school (SHS), said Juan

P. Lozano, managing director.Rosalind M. Landicho, Faith’s director for marketing and

corporate communications, said Fidelis Senior High School was offering the Technical

Vocational track, with the Information Technology strand, to take advantage of the school’s

location in Tanauan City in Batangas, a high growth area with at least four industrial

zones.Fidelis started offering Grade 11 in 20142015 with 26 students. “Most of the students

come from families who cannot afford college education, but still hope to pursue their studies

and work right after graduation. Under K-12, a senior high school graduate is already legally

employable,” Landicho said.Fidelis combines scholarships with a study-now-pay-later program

to allow more students to enroll. Graduates start paying their school fees through salary

deduction after they get employed. Landicho said job placement after SHS was almost

guaranteed because of Fidelis’ partnership with global companies like Chiyoda Philippines

Manufacturing Corp and Fastech Synergy Philippines.Lozano said, this year, Faith will be

accepting students from public schools, who would qualify for subsidies under the Senior High

School Voucher Program.

GE profs to teach SHS subjects

Landicho said, contrary to the general assumption, Faith would have college freshmen

students consisting of high school graduates of 2015 and earlier. But some General Education
teachers would be teaching specialized subjects in SHS while the “core or general subjects will

be taught by the basic education teachers, plus new hires,” she said.Also offering SHS is the

Lyceum of the Philippines University-Manila, the only LPU campus without a high school. Like

La Salle and Ateneo, the SHS faculty would also consist of “imports” from college.LPU-Manila

president Roberto Laurel said the university would keep all its regular faculty members and,

during the lean years, send to graduate schools those who needed to get their master’s, or even

post- graduate, degrees. LPU is currently screening professors who may qualify to teach Grade

11. The teachers will undergo special training on teaching methodology for SHS.Sandra Recto,

director of the school’s Communication and Public Affairs Office said, “There will be a

(temporary) cessation of our Nursing program due to the lack of enrollees and the drop in the

demand for nurses. We are positive that this program will be in demand again in the near future.”

San Beda College Mendiola (Manila), which phased out its basic education unit several years

ago, will be offering Grades 11 and 12 starting this school year. For students wanting to enroll at

SBC, “this will serve as their entry to the college,” said vice dean Joffre Alajar of the College of

Accountancy and Business.

Globally competitive

Despite the disruption caused by K-12, Lapus believed it was a reform that “will bring value

and benefits to the country and schools because it makes us globally competitive.”Adamson

University adopted DepEd’s K-12 program starting in 2011. It will start offering SHS-Academic

Track starting this year.

 The University of the Philippines system, while not completely dependent on school fees,

was also expecting a drop in freshmen enrollees in the next two years, at least.In fact, Rene

Estremera of UP Mindanao said the rippling effect of the reduction would probably be felt until

2018-2021. He said, to prepare for the major change, “UP Mindanao, together with the whole UP

system, is reviewing and revising all our degree program offerings. Some courses (subjects) will

be removed (from the college curricula)—those that will be offered in junior and senior high

schools. This has led to the resequencing of certain courses (subjects) within a degree program.”

The removal of some college subjects, he said, led to expectations that some undergraduate

programs could be completed in less than four years.Estremera said UP academic departments

were taking advantage of the drop in enrollment to pursue faculty development, scheduling

graduate and postgraduate studies for teachers. Teaching loads were also being

reviewed.Estremera said, as far as he knew, UP had a fund to support doctoral studies that could

be made available by the university president. Internal and external scholarships could also be

offered, such as those from the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), he said.The

University of Makati (UMak), which is funded primarily by the city government, has also

opened SHS. In fact, on DepEd’s request, UMak, which did not have a basic education program,

piloted SHS in 2012-2013, drawing almost 5,000 students to its Grade 11, of which 4,000 were

local residents.

Raising competency

Some of the enrollees had actually graduated from high school. But, unable to go to college

and with little prospect for employment, they decided to take the additional two years of free
schooling.UMak president Tomas Lopez said the additional two years would be an opportunity

to raise competencies for immediate employment or for college education. The university offers

the four main SHS tracks-Academic (college preparatory), Technical-Vocational, Sports and

Arts, and Needs of a Locality/Community.De La Salle University president Br. Raymundo

Belardo Suplido, FSC, said CHEd was preparing a budget to assist schools that would suffer

from a drop in enrollment to cushion the impact of K12 on the faculty, through educational

assistance for advance studies or immersion in industries.Resources and facility sharing was also

being considered—bigger institutions helping smaller schools. Some fulltime DLSU faculty

members, for instance, might be seconded to other schools, Suplido said.He said DepEd,

Department of Labor and Employment and the Technical Education and Skills Development

Authority (Tesda), in a joint memorandum, were also allowing transition contracts, provided

affected faculty members and the union, if there was one, agreed.College teachers, who would be

asked to handle SHS subjects, have five years to pass the Licensure Examination for Teachers

(LET) administered by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) if they decide to remain

in the basic education level.Dr. Peter P. Laurel, president of LPUBatangas and former president

of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities, said private schools should also

consider offering short-term courses under the jurisdiction of Tesda.The government is helping

private schools boost enrollment for their SHS by expanding the voucher program that grants

subsidy to public school students enrolling in private institutions.