BAGUIO CITY – All local governments nationwide will have sufficient classrooms and school buildings to accommodate the over 1.1 million students who will be enrolling for the initial stages of senior high school by school year 2016-2017, Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro said here recently.
Luistro said the agency is trying to make sure that students from remote villages in the country who will be entering senior high school next year could be accommodated in the nearest public education institution in their places to avoid them from being deprived of quality education through the government’s K to 12 system of education.
“We want everyone entering senior high school to be able to enrol in the nearest public education institution considering that it has been mandated that all local governments must have at least one school offering senior high school in order to accommodate the expected surge in enrolees next year,” Secretary Luistro stressed.
The DepEd official underscored local governments must be willing to put up classrooms and buildings for senior high school by next year considering that they will have sufficient funds as the agency already absorbed the teachers being paid by the local school board under the Special Education Fund.
Aside from providing additional school buildings and classrooms for senior high school, Secretary Luistro said local governments could also utilize their available local school board funds for the put up of dormitories to serve as temporary lodging areas for senior high school students coming from remote villages in their respective areas of jurisdiction to allow them to pursue a higher degree of education.
He explained the over 1.1 million students who will be entering senior high school will definitely contribute in improving the state of education in the country considering that the country is now compliant with the international education standards which must encompass at least 12 years of basic education before enrolling or availing of a college degree.
“We have to prepare our students for stiffer employment competition in the international scene considering that our professionals who had availed of the 10-year basic education before college have been left out by multinational employers even if they are very much qualified for their jobs pursuant to their skills,” Luistro said.
According to him, the 1.1 million students who will be entering senior high school next year will be the country’s cream of the crop in terms of the program considering that they were all screened on who will be able to pursue their college degrees and who will be able to acquire skills through the competency examinations offered by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
He estimated some 660,000 students will be qualified for enrolment in college while some 440,000 shall have acquired their skills or have decided to pursue college degrees while utilizing their skills to earn income and sustain their quest for a higher degree of education.
