GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/09 October) — The Department of Education (DepEd) in Region 12 has launched a region-wide campaign to reach out to around 55,000 students that it aims to enlist for the start of the senior high school (SHS) program next year.
Dr. Allan Farnazo, DepEd Region 12 director, said he has directed the region’s nine school divisions to step up the promotion of the SHS program to ensure that they would fully meet their enrolment targets.
He said they are aiming to enroll 43,000 students in public high schools and 12,000 in private high schools in the region that will offer the SHS program.
Such figure is based on the current enrolment in Grade 10 in public and private high schools in the region, he said.
“We’re targeting a 100 percent transition to Grade 11 of the current enrollees in Grade 10,” he said in a radi
o interview.
Farnazo said the enrolment figures for the SHS could still increase by next year as their target does not include the previous high school graduates who might decide later on to enroll in the program.
He said they have initially set a five to 10 percent margin for the projected increase in the SHS enrolment.
Last month, DepEd-12 held a week-long early registration for the SHS as part of its ongoing preparations for the program’s rollout.
He said the early registration was aimed at establishing a base number or data for enrolment and determining the requirements for its implementation, especially in terms of teachers, classrooms and laboratories.
Farnazo said the turnout was very encouraging as some school divisions posted 30 to 40 percent registration rates based on their targets.
“We’re hoping to eventually meet our targets through aggressive campaigning. Some divisions and schools are even planning to conduct house-to-house visits to increase their enrolments,” he said.
The SHS program is a component of the government’s flagship K to 12 education initiative, which was set for full implementation next year.
The program, which was first implemented by DepEd in 2012, provides an additional two years to the country’s basic education program. It is set for full implementation in 2016.
It covers Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education, comprising six years of primary education, four years of junior high school and two years of SHS.
For school year 2016-2017, DepEd-12 has proposed for the construction of an additional 6,577 classrooms and laboratories and the hiring of 3,565 teachers in line with the program’s implementation. (MindaNews)
