ILOILO City – Around 400 senior high school students in Western Visayas would be affected by the discontinuation of the senior high school (SHS) program in state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local universities and colleges (LUCs).
Department of Education (DepEd) Region 6 data showed the following number of affected learners who are currently in Grade 11:
* Altavas College in Aklan – 21 learners
* Aklan State University (main campus) – 54 learners
* University of Antique (main campus) – 90 learners
* University of Antique, Tario-Lim Memorial Campus – 86 learners
* University of the Philippines High School in Iloilo City – 104 learners
* West Visayas State University (WVSU) – Integrated Laboratory School in La Paz, Iloilo City – 45 learners
Hernani Escullar Jr., DepEd-6 information officer, said these 400 learners represent the .024 percent of the 163,365 Grade 11 learners in the region.
“Base sa aton monitoring, 400 ini sila ka mga senior high school learners, these are all Grade 11 currently enrolled for this school year. Ini sila ang maga-proceed sa aton Grade 12 in the next school year 2024-2025,” Escullar told Panay News.
Escullar, however, assured that public schools are ready to cater to displaced learners who want to transfer, especially with the current “no refusal policy.”
He added that several private universities are willing to accept transferees.
“Kita sa DepEd we will accept them kung gusto nila magsaylo sa aton public schools nga naga-offer sang kapareho man nga strands nga gina-avail nila currently sa SUCs and LUCs,” Escullar said.
Currently, all schools division offices (SDOs) in the region are taking necessary steps to help the affected SHS learners.
“Kita sa DepEd ready sa pag-cater sa ila kag ang aton division offices are crafting plans to ensure the smooth transition of these learners,” the DepEd-6 spokesperson said.
Escullar further explained that the 44 learners could still avail themselves of the voucher program in case they decided to transfer to private universities.
“May guidelines kita sa voucher program, puede ma-check nila kung puede ina sia magamit and ma-continue sa private schools. They have to coordinate with the division offices nila agud nga mahatagan sang nagakaigu nga assistance,” he added.DepEd Order No. 20, Series of 2023, Section XI states that “Pursuant to Section 32 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 10533, otherwise known as the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2023, specifically provides that the transition period for non-DepEd public schools or SUCs/LUCs in the implementation period of SHS VP is until the end of school year 2021-2022. This was supported by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) by its issuance of CHED Memorandum Order Nos. 32 and 33, Series of 2025 and 35, series of 2016 which states that the engagement of SUCs and LUCs in basic education through SHS shall be limited to the K-12 transition period only which is from school calendar 2016-2017 to school year 2022-2021 only.
It added: “Beginning school year 2023-2024, there should be no more Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) beneficiaries from SUCs/LUCs, except those who will be entering Grade 12 in school year 2023-2024 to finish their basic education. SUCs and LUCs with laboratory school can accept enrollees but will no longer receive vouchers.”
For learners who will opt to transfer to public schools, they can no longer avail themselves of the voucher because of the free tuition.
Escullar clarified that the voucher is in the form of assistance.
“Wala ni ginhatag in cash, rather in form of assistance sa ila between DepEd and CHED,” he said.
For his part, WVSU president Dr. Joselito Villaruz said they are aware of the pronouncement of CHED chairperson Prospero De Vera III regarding the impending phase out of the SHS programs and the subsidy from DepEd.
Villaruz said that even during the implementation of SHS program for SUCs and LUCs, it was very clear that the implementation will last only until after the first batch of the SHS are able to graduate, but this was extended beyond 2021.
In the case of WVSU, he said they are supposed to phase out the program in 2022, however because of the demand coming from the parents and other stakeholders they continued with the program and the DepEd also continued giving assistance.
“Our decision as of the moment is to allow the currently enrolled in senior high school to graduate, and we’ll not accept Grade 11 students for 2024-2025. And then we will move up the current students to Grade 12 and we will allow them to graduate,” Villaruz said in an interview with Bombo Radyo Iloilo.
He added: “Since there are no more fund coming from the DepEd, then we presumed that the tuition and other fees will be shouldered by the parents if they wish to continue enrolling their children.”/PN
