To ensure the Senior High School (SHS) program remains relevant and produces future-ready graduates, the Department of Education (DepEd) said that consultations with various education stakeholders and partners are ongoing.
“We have to make our high school graduates employable,” DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara said in a statement. “And they have to go into quality jobs,” he added.
In a statement issued on Jan. 20, DepEd announced that it had recently conducted a series of consultations with stakeholders, private sector representatives, and industry partners to strengthen the SHS program.
The revised SHS program, DepEd said, aims to ensure future-ready Filipino learners.
“Huwag lang yung (Not just those) jobs that will barely earn them a living wage or enable them to feed their family,” Angara said, emphasizing that the SHS program should produce graduates who can help themselves and their families “live a quality life.”
Ongoing review and consultations
As part of its efforts to engage stakeholders and industry partners to make SHS graduates future-ready, DepEd stated that dialogues were held on Jan. 8, 10, and 15.
The participants included 31 private schools and technical vocational institutions (TVIs), 14 companies and organizations from various regions, seven government agencies, and representatives from different DepEd Central Office divisions. These sessions aimed to gather feedback and recommendations for refining the SHS curriculum.
Revised SHS Program
DepEd highlighted the key principles guiding the revision of the SHS program: decongesting and simplifying the SHS curriculum; putting a premium on learner choice; ensuring “stackability and seamlessness” to facilitate progression, and strengthening industry linkages.
Angara assured stakeholders that consultations would remain a collaborative process to further improve education policies and curriculum.
“Just as I promised, our conversations with TESDA, with industry, and with private institutions will be a continuing process,” Angara said. “I think it will never stop because, in the implementation, industries will continue to evolve and change. So we need to evolve along with them,” he added.
Moreover, DepEd noted that its Curriculum and Teaching (CT) strand recently held an interface with Curriculum and Human Resource officials and field personnel from 16 regional and 128 schools division offices on the proposed SHS curriculum.
DepEd added that the CT strand will conduct local consultations led by regional CLMD Chiefs from Jan. 24 to Feb. 24.
Appeal for support
Meanwhile, Angara called on stakeholders and partners to maintain their support.
“With your help, we can come up with something very, very soon,” Angara said. “Again, we need you to continuously refine whatever we come up with or decide upon,” he added.
The SHS consultations were spearheaded by the Curriculum and Teaching Strand, through the Bureau of Curriculum Development, and the Office of the Secretary.