Not just senior high: Bill creating ‘multiple pathways’ after high school hurdles House panel

MANILA, Philippines — The House basic education committee has approved a measure creating two education pathways for high school graduates — a proposal that lawmakers believe highlights the role of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in making students work-ready.

The committee approved on Wednesday an unnumbered substitute bill that takes off from the K+10+2 bill filed by Deputy Speaker Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (Pampanga) and other related measures that sought to address the problem of senior graduates’ poor employment prospects. 

The proposed measure allows students who finish four years of high school to either go the technical vocational route and gain skills for employment or spend two more years taking up college preparatory classes (currently called senior high school).

Offering high school graduates the chance to take up improved tech-voc programs would break the conventional high-school-to-college route that has long characterized Philippine education, according to House basic education panel chairperson Rep. Roman Romulo (Pasig City).

“In effect, it will amend the K to 12 law in the sense that it now opens up additional education pathways for Filipino learners,” Romulo said in a phone call to Philstar.com.

“Right now, we are still viewing tech-voc as a second-class pathway. But globally, that is no longer true. We see that in several countries, skills training is just as important to any economy as an academic pathway,” the lawmaker said.

Specifically, in the proposed “Education Pathways Act,” junior high school graduates (students who finish Grade 10 or 4th year high school) will have these two options:

The unnumbered bill also makes available a ladderized program for students who complete two-year tech-voc courses, which will allow them to have their tech-voc units credited for their college or university studies.

During the panel's deliberations on Wednesday, Macapagal-Arroyo and Romulo concurred that the measure should include a provision that allows for its implementation even without the execution of an Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). 

If passed into law, the Education Pathways Act will also require TESDA to