Help finance senior HS, private schools ask govt

MANILA, Philippines - The Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA) urged yesterday the government to provide financial assistance to private schools to allow them to accommodate more senior high schools (HS) who may be displaced in public schools.

“We call on the government to help us out in the transition period by helping higher education institutions (HEIs) to finance senior high schools,” COCOPEA chairman Patricia Lagunda said.

Lagunda said private schools do not have enough faculty and resources to accommodate senior high schools under the K to 12 program.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro earlier said college professors would be tapped as “experts” to teach in senior high schools.

“But if college professors want to teach SHS full-time, they need to take the LET (licensure exam for teachers) like the teachers under the DepEd plantilla,” Luistro said.

DepEd earlier said it will offer subsidies to senior high school students who want to enroll in private schools through a voucher system.

Many private colleges and universities’ schools face bankruptcy because of disruptions in enrolment, the COCOPEA earlier said.

By 2016, private schools need to adjust to possible decrease in first year college students as many will opt to push through with technical and vocational courses or get employment after finishing senior high school, Lagunda said.

The COCOPEA, she said, is finding ways to address the effect of losing freshmen enrollees on tertiary institutions, including their teaching faculties, with the full implementation of the senior high school by school year 2016-2017.

She said leaders of COCOPEA will discuss these issues in its National Congress to be held at the Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila in Ortigas, Pasig City from Feb. 20 to 21.

COCOPEA, the country’s largest group of private schools, has around 2,000 member-schools nationwide.

Around one million students will enter senior high school by 2016.

Republic Act 10533, or the K to 12 Basic Education Program law, adds two years to the four-year high school curriculum.

The additional years will serve as a specialization period for senior high school students, whether in vocational skills, music, arts or sports.