No favoritism in K to 12 implementation, says DepEd

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) denied yesterday that the agency is favoring private schools in the implementation of the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 or K to 12 Law.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) criticized the DepEd’s voucher system, which provides financial assistance to incoming senior high school students (Grades 11 and 12) who will enroll in private schools.

ACT said the voucher system would be used as a mechanism to cover up the acute crisis in classrooms and trained teachers for K to 12.

But DepEd officials said allowing the students to study in private schools, through a voucher system, can help the government generate savings instead of building new classrooms.

According to ACT, the government will spend P13.2 billion to P19.8 billion in taxpayers’ money to send public students to Grade 11 in 2016.

This, it said, will double in 2017 when they move to Grade 12 and a new batch of students takes their place.

DepEd Undersecretary Francisco Varela said each public school student will get anywhere between P12,000 to P18, 000 in vouchers.

“We are not favoring private schools, we are giving options to our students,” Varela said in a text message to reporters yesterday.

He said the voucher system would help students to exercise their right to choose – whether to go to a public school or a private school when enrolling in senior high school.

“The voucher system is a two-pronged strategy which aims to strengthen the capacity of public schools and to strengthen the partnerships with private schools,” he said.

Varela said the set of guidelines for the voucher system would be released before 2016.

“But as early as now, we have been presenting this to various groups so they can plan and come up with their own strategies,” Varela said.

“We need to communicate the program, so whoever wants to offer senior high school can conduct their own studies,” he said.