Increasing the number of years for basic education does not only mean greater fund requirement for the government but more so with the students and their families. And if a child is born in a Filipino family living on the average or nearly within the poverty line, schooling is already hard and harder will it get under K-to-12.
According to DepEd records, 1.3 million students are attending the senior high school program in more than 10,000 schools nationwide which opened last June. The number is already about 90 percent of the total number of SHS enrollees anticipated for the first year of its implementation as around 1.5 million students finished Grade 10 for school year 2015-2016.
The figures were on the aggregate. The rolls of those enrolled in public and private schools are more crucial for the deal is this: to graduate senior high school, it is estimated that a student in a public institution will have to spend roughly P100, 000 and double of that amount or P200, 000 by a private school enrollee to cover expenses for additional two years. Furthermore, consequent to the incapacity of DepEd schools to accommodate students, many will have to get into a private institution.
On DepEd’s defense, they have already built 200 new, stand-alone public senior high schools, mostly in catchment areas resulting to only 25 percent public high schools not K-to-12 ready. In addition, the voucher system which gives subsidy may partly aid the situation of students having to transfer to private senior high schools.
According to the Department of Budget and Management, P12.2 billion has been set aside for the SHS voucher program wherein Grade 10 completers from public schools who want to enroll in a private or non-DepEd SHS automatically qualify for financial assistance through the SHS voucher program. On the other hand, all Grade 10 completers from private schools may also apply for a voucher. The full value of the voucher in the National Capital Region is P22, 500. In highly urbanized cities outside NCR, the voucher is worth P20, 000. In all other cities and municipalities, its value is P7, 500. This assistance program will continue in the long run as it was included in our law. Unfortunately, tuition ranges from P35, 000 to P70, 000 a year making short of even the highest peso value of voucher.
While it is true that education is a form of investment and investing could be expensive, it shall not be this much to the extent of depriving the unprivileged. Thus, the DepEd has to extend utmost effort to meet the situation of preparing all public schools for senior high school, not besetting of course the other much lamented lack of learning resources in the country.
By: Lourdes L. Manguiob | Teacher III | Samal National High School
