Bill for free high school education through distance learning OK'd

Manila, Philippines -  A bill seeking to provide equal opportunities to adults and out-of-school youth of high school age to avail of free high school education through distance learning was approved yesterday on third and final reading at the House of Representatives.

 House Bill 6086, the proposed “Open High School System Act,” aims to establish the Open High School System (OHSS) as part of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) alternative secondary education program.

Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado-Revilla, one of the bill’s authors, said establishing the OHSS encourages self-learning and provides an alternative quality educational system through print, television, radio and computer-based communications, satellite broadcasting, teleconferencing and other multi-media learning and teaching technologies that allow students to learn on their own pace and time without having to attend conventional classrooms.

“This promotes total liberation of the Filipino youth from the chains of ignorance and physical and geographical conditions,” she said.

The bill would cover all youth and adults who have finished elementary education and high school qualifiers under the Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT).

It adopts the National Secondary Education Curriculum (NSEC) using the Philippine Secondary Schools Learning Competencies (PSSC).

It would provide for the recruitment of “guro (teacher)” and “gurong tagapatnubay (guidance counselor),” who will be given incentives and monetary compensation as determined by the DepEd.

The “para guro” (degree holder of college level resident of the community who manages a learning center), “gurong kadluan” (resource person with specialized skills in practical or industrial subjects), and “tagapayong pansamahan” (club adviser) will receive honoraria to be arranged with the local school board and appropriate training programs will be extended to them.

The bill would encourage the DepEd, the UP-Open Educational System and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to enter into a memorandum of agreement to specify their roles to ensure maximum cooperation and success in the operation of the OHSS.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, another author of the bill, said everyone is entitled by right to proper education.

“Unfortunately, due to economic, geographic and time management constraints, not everyone who acknowledges the significance of education will be able to avail of it,” he said.

“Finishing high school is an asset that everyone with the opportunity should take full advantage of. Just finishing high school alone opens up thousands more opportunities for individuals.”

When entering a specific field within the job market, it is often required that an applicant at least posses a high school diploma. Many times, without the high school diploma, a person is restricted to a smaller number of occupations for which they are qualified.

Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco, also a co-author of the bill, said the best safeguard to the country’s democratic political system is an enlightened citizenry who cannot be cowed or dictated upon.

“These are the citizens our laws must serve and protect,” he said. “These are the citizens whose right to education the State must guarantee. Among these citizens are the underprivileged out-of-school youth and adults who have graduated from elementary but are unable to go to high school because of geographic and socio-economic constraints.”

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, also an author of the bill, said a country that fails or neglects to give premium to education of its people will inevitably falter in human development and lag behind in economic advancement.

“The dismal access to secondary education in the country is evidenced by the fact that less than 55 percent of families in the lowest 10 percent percentile income bracket have children enrolled in high school, while 75 percent of the families in the top 10 percentile have their children in the secondary level,” he said. 

“Poverty has driven poor parents to allow if not push their children to work to augment family income.”

Another author of the bill, Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, said the Open High School System could be likened, albeit figuratively, to manna from heaven.

“The bill envisions e-learning as a very viable educational system enabling children, youth, even adults to start, continue, resume and eventually finish their secondary education outside of the conventional classroom setting,” he said.

The co-authors are Reps. Salvador Escudero III (Sorsogon), Sherwin Tugna (CIBAC), Marcelino Teodoro (Marikina), Romeo Acop (Antipolo), Rachel Marguerite Del Mar (Cebu City), Bernadette Herrera-Dy (Bagong Henerasyon), Pedro Romualdo (Camiguin), Luis Villafuerte (Camarines Sur) and Maria Carmen Zamora-Apsay (Compostela Valley).