BAGUIO CITY March 22 – The Coordillera office of the Department of Education announced that some twenty thousand four hundred seventy two students enrolled in the four tracks of the senior high school will be graduating as the first batch of senior high school enrolees in the region under the K to 12 basic education program of the government.
DepEd-Cordillera officer-in-charge May Eclar said the said number of senior high school graduates will be potential college enrolees this coming schoolyear while others might opt to look for jobs, especially those who underwent the technical-vocational track.
For the coming schoolyear, the DepEd official revealed that more than 27,000 enrolees in the senior high school program are expected to attend their classes in the 166 public schools offering senior high school tracks and the 118 offerings made by private education institutions around the region.
Based on the data obtained from the DepEd-CAR, enrollees from the technical-vocational-livelihood track reached 15,835 followed by enrolees in the academic track – science, technology, engineering and mathematics that reached 11,095; academic track – humanities and social sciences – 9,608; academic track – general academic strand – 7,718; academic track – accountancy, business and management – 6,234; arts and design track – 262 and sports track – 161.
Of the senior high school enrolees in the region, there were more females that reached 27,991 while males reached 22,922.
Eclar added the ratio of senior high school teachers and students is within the ideal situation considering that this schoolyear’s ration is 1:29 compared to the standard ratio embraced by the education department which is 1:40.
However, she admitted there is still a shortage of senior high school teachers, particularly those who will teach the specialized subjects, thus, the DepEd is still doing its best to fill up the vacant teaching positions to address the possible increase in the gap.
Aside from the insufficient number of teachers supposed to teach specialized subjects, she also claimed there is also shortage of classrooms due to the failure of the public works department to complete the senior high school buildings and classrooms that were contracted out due to various reasons ranging from the inadequate design for the highlands, insuffiency of the allotted funds among others.
By the next schoolyear, Eclar expressed confidence that the potential shortage in classrooms for senior high school students will be significantly reduced aside from the potential increase in the number of teachers to be hired so that the available teaching positions for specialized subjects will be solved and prevent whatever problems that will arise in the course of the implementation of the government’s K to 12 basic education program.
According to her, teachers who want to teach specialized subjects were given by the department five years to complete their specialization for them to be allowed to teach subjects in the senior high school program and for them to be appointed in positions that fit their qualifications.**By Dexter A. See
