COMMISSION on Higher Education Chairperson Prospero De Vera yesterday said no senior high school student would be displaced in the discontinuance of the Senior High School (SHS) program in State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs).
Several lawmakers had raised concerns about the decision of the CHED to stop the senior high school (SHS) program in government-run universities and colleges, saying it violates one’s right to access to quality education.
“There is no displacement of students since the academic year 2023-2024 is still ongoing,” De Vera said in a press briefing.
Asked about the 17,700 Grade 11 students that the Department of Education earlier said are enrolled in SUCs and LUCs this school year, De Vera said the Commission is in discussion with education stakeholders to look into viable options for SHS for this school year and beyond.
“We will be monitoring the situation on the ground, and are ready to sit down with DepEd and other education stakeholders in areas where there is a problem of accommodating senior high school students to ensure that no student will be left behind for the academic year 2024-2025,” he said.
De Vera said among the issues that need to be discussed are where the 17,700 students are enrolled, the state of senior high school facilities and services in various areas, and whether their access to education would be negatively affected by the end of the program.
“Not all SUCs and LUCs are similarly situated and the capacities and facilities of DepEd are different across the region,” he explained.
De Vera reiterated the Commission’s stand that there is no more legal basis for SUCs and LUCs to have SHS, except for those having laboratory schools for their education students.
He said the SUCs and LUCs also need the facilities because of the increase in enrollment due to the free higher education law.
“Their mandate is to provide post-secondary education. This is clear in Republic Act 8292, the framework law for SUC governance and the laws creating individual SUC,” De Vera explained.
A memorandum issued last December 18 by De Vera said SUCs have no more legal authority nor funding to operate senior high school programs.
De Vera said he was compelled to issue the memorandum after his office learned that several SUCs and LUCs were still accommodating senior high school enrollees as of last year, or two years after the end of the transition period.
Memorandum No. 25 issued by CHED in 2016 under the leadership of Chairperson Patricia Licuanan provides for the involvement of SUCs and LUCs in the DepEd’s senior high school program within a 5-year transition period from 2016 to 2021.
De Vera said with the end of the transition period, there is no more reason for SUCs and LUCs to offer senior high school programs.
“The premise during (the) transition is that DepEd did not have enough facilities but since then, we have been building high schools all over the country. It was not supposed or meant to be a permanent solution,” he added.
Asked if SUCs and LUCs can still offer the SHS program, especially in localities where there is a lack of SHS facilities, De Vera said this will largely depend on the availability of DepEd facilities in their respective areas.
“First, we have to determine who are these SUCs and LUCs and the capacity of DepEd schools in the area. If there is capacity in the regular schools, then that is where high school students should be studying,” he said.
He added there is also a need to study the legal basis and how the SUCs and LUCs would shoulder the cost considering that DepEd has said it is no longer providing vouchers or subsidies for Grade 11 students enrolled in SUCs and LUCs for the current school year.
“We have to balance all these factors at the appropriate time. If limited ang facilities ng DepEd, then we will look at it one by one as well as the legal basis. Pag-uusapan natin ‘yan ng DepEd and the schools and find out the acceptable solutions at the ground level,” De Vera said.
Under DepEd Order No. 2023-020 issued last July, there would be no more financial assistance to the senior high school program in SUCs and LUCs, except for Grade 12 students enrolled in the current school year.
De Vera also defended his issuance of the memorandum amid criticisms from teachers and youth groups as well as several lawmakers.
“There is no arbitrariness from CHED. This is not whimsical because many SUCs and LUCs have already closed down their SHS program after the transition because they need the facilities for their program,” he said.
“It is not CHED that is closing the program but rather the SUCs and LUCs because they need the facilities for their students,” he added.
De Vera also said SHS teachers in SUCs and LUCs would not lose their jobs as most of them are full-time or part-time faculty members.
“If they are not teaching SHS subjects, they will just go back to continue teaching higher education courses,” he said.
