Teachers and youth protested the order of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to stop the proposed senior high school program in state and local universities and colleges, which he said was rushed and chaotic.
It was only last week that CHED chairperson Prospero de Vera ordered all SUCs and LUCs to stop this starting school year 2024-2025.
He said there is no legal basis to fund it after the K-12 transition period is over.
“We, the Teacher’s Dignity Coalition (TDC) and Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK), assert that haphazardly discontinuing the Senior High School program in State and Local Universities and Colleges, without guaranteeing improved access and quality of our education system, will lead to economic displacement for our teachers and threaten our learners’ right to accessible and quality education,” according to the two groups.
“While we understand that SUCs and LUCs are mandated to offer the SHS program only during the K-12 transition period, we fear that mechanically following suit without serious consideration of the drawbacks on education stakeholders will lead to another learning crisis leaving 17,700 students affected by dislocation and hundreds of thousands more by imminent congestion.”
Sudden removal of senior high in SUCs, LUCs condemned
CHED first said that the participation of LUCs and SUCs in basic education through the SHS program is burning. It is said that the transition period of SYs 2016-2017 to 2020-2021 is over.
Instead, TDC and SPARK urged national agencies to extend the K-12 transition period to account for the time and resources needed to ensure that:
- senior high schools (public and private) have the capacity to absorb all students affected by the discontinuation of the SHS program in SUCs and LUCs
- the quality of education learners from SUCs and LUCs will not decrease
- there is no economic discolation to all SHS instructors and teachers
He said the aforementioned will help to avoid congestion. He also said that the additional costs of transferring schools (fare, uniforms and document processing) will be reduced.
“Any less than this would mean failure to protect and fulfill the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels, and making such education accessible to all,” the two groups added.
Visit our Facebook page for more news updates.