ILOILO City – State universities and colleges (SUCs) and local universities and colleges (LUCs) in Region 6 will cease offering senior high school programs starting from the 2023-2024 school year.
This follows the end of the K-12 transition period, which lasted from the 2016-2017 to the 2020-2021 school years.
The intention was to limit the offering of senior high school programs by SUCs and LUCs to the 2020-2021 school year, said Dr. Raul C. Alvarez Jr., Director IV of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Region 6.
He acknowledged that some higher education institutions continued these programs until the 2022-2023 school year but emphasized that starting in 2023-2024, these programs should be phased out in the region.
This move aims to enable SUCs and LUCs to focus their facilities, resources, and manpower on higher education and to accommodate more college students.
The Department of Education (DepEd) oversees senior high school programs.
Alvarez noted, “SUCs and LUCs are not mandated to provide basic education. Our mandate is to open public universities for more college students.”
Alvarez explained that teachers, many of whom hold doctorates and master’s degrees, should focus on higher education rather than basic education.
This shift is necessary as many potential college students are unable to enrol due to the current allocation of resources to senior high school programs, which is not the mandate of these universities, he said.
CHED initially allowed the offering of senior high school programs during the K-12 transition period to lessen the burden on DepEd.
Now that the transition period is over, the focus must return to higher education, Alvarez stressed.
Region 6 hosts 11 SUCs and 11 LUCs, distributed across Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Guimaras.
On Dec. 18, 2023, CHED chairperson Prospero De Vera III issued a statement as a reminder to these institutions. He clarified that the engagement of SUCs and LUCs in basic education through senior high school programs was meant to be limited to the K-12 transition period only.
According to a CHED memorandum, from the 2023-2024 school year onwards, there will be no more government assistance for students and teachers in private education from SUCs/LUCs, except for those entering Grade 12 to finish their basic education.
The directive also included discontinuing programs for which there is no longer a legal basis for funding./PN
