Private schools find ways to retain their students

MANILA, Philippines - Private elementary and high schools are finding ways to retain some of their students with the full implementation of the K to 12 program as higher education (HEIs) and technical vocational institutions (tech-voc) are expected to offer senior high school courses by 2016. Eleazardo Kasilag, president of the Federation of Associations of Private Schools and Administrators (FAPSA), said the Department of Education (DepEd) should come up with a memorandum clearly defining the role of private basic educational institutions in the implementation of the K to 12. “Considering some of our junior high school students will go to other schools (for the senior high school courses), it might not be viable for us to build new facilities and hire new teachers for the SHS,” Kasilag told The STAR. FAPSA has over 2,000 member-schools in Metro Manila alone, Kasilag said. Retaining their students for another two years is a potential source of additional revenues for these private elementary and high schools. Kasilag said it is expected that HEIs will also offer the SHS program as they will not have college freshmen for school years 2006-2017 and 2017-2018. “The HEIs will demote themselves because they will not have college freshmen for two years. But they have already the faculty and the facilities for the SHS,” he added. Kasilag said FAPSA will thoroughly study possibilities of whether or not to invest for the SHS program.       —Helen M. Flores