By Joann Santiago
MANILA, March 19 (PNA) — A Palace official on Thursday reiterated that the government has already outlined contingency plans to address dislocation of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) educators vis-à-vis the implementation of the K-12 program.
Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., in a briefing, said the government is considering a plan to authorize HEIs to offer senior high school program or Grades 11 and 12.
”Para ‘yung mga guro na nagtuturo ng first at second year college (ay) magtuturo na sila ng Grade 11 at Grade 12 at mamiminimize yung dislocation (So that educators who are teaching first and second year college students will teach those in Grade 11 and 12 so that we can minimize dislocation),” he said.
Coloma said the government’s education cluster also plans to include in the 2016 national budget a Php29 billion five-year stabilization fund that would be tapped starting that year to address dislocation of teachers.
Citing reports from the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Palace official said about 8,000 teachers will be directly affected by the implementation of the senior high school program.
The K-12 program adds two years to the country’s 10-year basic education and requires students to take Kindergarten before entering elementary.
Its implementation started in school year (SY) 2012-13 and the Grade 1 entrants then were the first batch of students who will fully undergo the 12-year basic education program. They are set to graduate from basic education in 2018.
On that same school year, the incoming first year students were the initial batch of junior high school or Grade 7 pupils.
The first batch of Grade 11 students will enter senior high school in SY 2016-17.
The government approved the implementation of K-12 to make students are sufficiently prepared for work.
Students who will be in Senior High School will take up vocational classes and will be given Certificates of Competency (COCs) and National Certifications (NCs) upon completion of the program. These vocational trainings will be in accordance to the training regulations of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
DepEd has agreed with business groups to allow K-12 graduates to be employed accordingly as they have acquired additional skills compared to current high school graduates. (PNA)