ILOILO City – An estimated 67,000 senior high school (SHS) students in Western Visayas are graduating this month, according to the Department of Education (DepEd).
Last year, the same number of SHS students graduated, said DepEd assistant regional director Victor De Gracia Jr.
Seventy percent of SHS graduates last year were able to proceed to college, he said, while the rest either found jobs, ventured into business or became unemployed.
De Gracia said the free-tuition policy in tertiary education attracted many SHS graduates to proceed to college.
But he also said a percentage of these graduates got employed because of the “outstanding immersion program” for SHS students.
According to De Gracia, most of the SHS graduates who took the Academic track like Science and
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Humanities, Education, Social Sciences (HESS) proceeded to college.
On the other hand, those who took the Technical-Vocational-Livelihood (TVL) track either proceeded to college, ventured into business or got employed.
Under the SHS curriculum, each student can choose from among three tracks: Academic; Technical-Vocational-Livelihood; and Sports and Arts.
The Academic track includes three strands: Business, Accountancy, Management (BAM); HESS; and STEM.
“May ara pa gid man secondary schools nga waay naga-offer SHS but gamay na lang nga number. Kalabanan naga-offer senior high na,” he said.
As to the number of classrooms or school buildings for SHS, De Gracia said the region has enough.
“Waay na kita naga-backlog gawa sa mga classrooms. Almost finished naman ang construction except lang gid sa may mga problema,” said De Gracia./PN
