'Less than ideal': More than a quarter of senior high-age students not in school
MANILA, Philippines — Despite the steady increase in senior high school enrollees year after year, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian has flagged the Department of Education over the number of Filipinos aged 16 to 18 years old currently enrolled in grades 11 and 12, which he called “far from ideal.”
Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate’s basic education committee, said this during a hearing on Tuesday on a proposed bill to improve K to 12 graduates’ employment prospects.
According to enrollment data presented by a DepEd information systems analyst during the hearing, for the current school year 2022-2023, at least 68% or around four million out of six million of Filipinos aged 16 to 18 years old are enrolled in senior high school.
This means, however, that 32% or at least 1.9 million Filipinos of age are not enrolled in senior high school.Data also showed that the participation rate of Filipinos in senior high has consistently remained above 50%, except during its second year of implementation or school year 2017-2018.
Gatchalian said that despite the “good trend,” the numbers are still too low and that DepEd should aim for 100%.
“It’s still a challenge for us to bring the 68% to 100%. I just want to flag the department on this matter. Because senior high school is really something that will enable the youth to be work-ready and college-ready,” Gatchalian said.
DepEd last year set its eyes on helping students recuperate from the learning losses they experienced during the peak of the health crisis from 2020 to 2021 by requiring all schools to transition to full face-to-face classes.
Although DepEd viewed remote classes as a success amid the rollout of several distance learning options, about 1.1 million students were unable to enroll for the school year 2020-2021.
Vice President Sara Duterte, who is also education secretary, said in January that DepEd is nearing the completion of its review of the senior high school curriculum.
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