DepEd: Public schools prepared to absorb 17K SHS students from SUCs

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education said that public schools can accommodate the thousands of senior high school (SHS) students set to be displaced next year by the discontinuation of the SHS program in state universities and colleges (SUCs). 

This comes as lawmakers have expressed concerns over how the DepEd and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) will go about cramming more SHS students in crowded public schools and the apparent absence of consultations with parents and students before the dissolution of SHS programs in SUCs.

With over 17,000 Grade 11 students currently enrolled in SUCs, DepEd projects that certain school divisions will have to accommodate an average of 250 new SHS students next school year, DepEd Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas told GMA’s Unang Balita on Thursday.

“Yes, we can handle it. We’ve talked to the regional offices and schools division offices where we have enrollees in local universities,” Bringas said.

“Out of the 17,700, an average of 250 learners per division will have to be accommodated by division offices,” the DepEd official added.

In a December 2023 memorandum, CHED directed all SUCs to discontinue their SHS programs in compliance with an earlier agreement with DepEd that they could only offer Grades 11 and 12 from 2016 to 2021 — or during the transition period of the K to 12 program.

The same memorandum discontinued the provision of SHS voucher subsidies to students in SUCs and capped the enrollment of laboratory schools from 1,000 students during the K to 12 transition period to 750 once the transition period ends. 

Under the Senior High School Voucher Program, eligible students receive vouchers that can be used to partially or fully cover the cost of tuition and other fees in participating private schools and SUCs. Schools that admit voucher recipients receive payments from the government for the education services provided to these students.

SUCs were allowed to offer SHS during the first five years of the K to 12 program to mitigate the drop in enrollment resulting from adding two extra years of high school. To cover the cost of accommodating SHS students and hiring teachers, DepEd had allowed