Amid concerns about the possible displacement of Senior High School (SHS) students, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said that closing SHS Programs in State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs) was needed so they can accommodate tertiary students.
“Many SUCs and LUCs have full enrollment and they discontinued their SHS program because they needed the facilities and the space for own students already,” CHED Chairman Popoy De Vera said in a press conference on Monday, Jan. 8.
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https://mb.com.ph/2024/1/2/ched-confirms-discontinuation-of-shs-program-in-su-cs-lu-cs
“Every year, there are SUCs that have started closing their SHS programs,” De Vera explained.
Capiz State University, for instance, stopped offering SHS two years ago, according to CHED.
The University of Southern Mindanao will discontinue the admission of Grade 11 by 2024 and let the “currently enrolled students to graduate.”
Don Honorio Ventura State University, as per CHED, will also “cease SHS offering” effective academic year 2024-2025.
“The reality on the ground and I am really surprised why this became a very big issue because the closing down of Senior High School offerings in public universities has been ongoing now for about three years,” De Vera said.
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“There are many state universities and colleges who have stopped offering their senior high school as early as three years ago,” he added.
SHS in public universities, colleges
De Vera explained that the government-run universities and colleges offered the SHS program in “response to the problem” when SHS was enacted.
During this time, De Vera noted a lack of facilities and faculty members who would teach senior high school.
However, when the K to 12 transition period ended, De Vera said that many of these public HEIs “actually stopped offering it as early as three years ago pursuant to the provisions of the guidelines in terms of senior high school.”
“The basic problem really is that there is no more legal basis for SUCs and LUCs to have Senior High except for those having Laboratory Schools for students,” De Vera explained.
“The transition period for the senior high implementation has lapsed already and in the meantime, the state universities and colleges and local universities have full capacity already,” he added.
With the increase in enrollment due to the free higher education law, De Vera pointed out that many SUCs and LUCs have enrollees from the first year to the fourth year.
They “need the additional facilities” to accommodate these students, he added.
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