CHED: No senior HS student would be displaced

COMMISSION on Higher Education Chairperson Prospero De Vera yesterday said no senior high school student would be displaced in the discontinuance of the Senior High School (SHS) program in State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs).

Several lawmakers had raised concerns about the decision of the CHED to stop the senior high school (SHS) program in government-run universities and colleges, saying it violates one’s right to access to quality education.

“There is no displacement of students since the academic year 2023-2024 is still ongoing,” De Vera said in a press briefing.

Asked about the 17,700 Grade 11 students that the Department of Education earlier said are enrolled in SUCs and LUCs this school year, De Vera said the Commission is in discussion with education stakeholders to look into viable options for SHS for this school year and beyond.

“We will be monitoring the situation on the ground, and are ready to sit down with DepEd and other education stakeholders in areas where there is a problem of accommodating senior high school students to ensure that no student will be left behind for the academic year 2024-2025,” he said.

De Vera said among the issues that need to be discussed are where the 17,700 students are enrolled, the state of senior high school facilities and services in various areas, and whether their access to education would be negatively affected by the end of the program.

“Not all SUCs and LUCs are similarly situated and the capacities and facilities of DepEd are different across the region,” he explained.

De Vera reiterated the Commission’s stand that there is no more legal basis for SUCs and LUCs to have SHS, except for those having laboratory schools for their education students.

He said the SUCs and LUCs also need the facilities because of the increase in enrollment due to the free higher education law.

“Their mandate is to provide post-secondary education. This is clear in Republic Act 8292, the framework law for SUC governance and the laws creating individual SUC,” De Vera explained.

A memorandum issued last December 18 by De Vera said SUCs have no more legal authority nor funding to operate senior