CHED: SUCs told to 'wind down' senior high program years ago

MANILA, Philippines — State universities and colleges (SUCs) received instructions to begin wrapping up their senior high school (SHS) programs three years ago as part of an agreement with the Department of Education that they could only offer the program until 2021, according to the Commission on Higher Education.

CHED Chairperson Popoy De Vera explained that it struck an agreement with the Department of Education (DepEd) in 2015 that allowed SUCs to temporarily offer senior high school during the transition period of the K to 12 program, or from 2016 to 2021, to mitigate the drop in enrollment that would result from two extra years of high school.

"We are only focusing on this now because even though the K-12 transition was completed in 2021, this was during the time of COVID because we were transitioning to the new normal,” De Vera said in a Bagong Pilipinas briefing. 

This comes after CHED confirmed it issued a memorandum dated Dec. 18, 2023 directing all SUCs to stop offering senior high school starting the school year 2024-2025 as there is no longer a legal basis to fund it. 

An earlier CHED memorandum, CHED Memorandum Order 32 issued in 2015, also limits the SHS programs offered by SUCs to six years, in compliance with the Republic Act No. 10533 or the K to 12 law. 

“Now, the transition period is over. SUCs are now full of students. They now need to use their facilities and teachers. There’s no more basis for them to continue to offer senior high,” De Vera said.

“This is why we have been telling public universities to wind down their offering of senior high school for the past two years,” De Vera said.

No more voucher for SUCs

DepEd also earlier announced through DepEd Order 20 in 2023 that it will no longer provide voucher subsidies to Grade 11 students in SUCs during the current school year (SY 2023-2024). However, current Grade 12 students will still receive their vouchers. 

DepEd Undersecretary Michael Poa confirmed on Wednesday that “no one will be affected” among the SHS voucher recipients as there are no longer any Grade 11 voucher recipients in SUCs in the system.

With the discontinuation of voucher subsidies for SHS students in SUCs, De Vera said this should prompt SUCs’ board of regents — the highest decision-making body in universities — to discuss their non-acceptance of senior high school students starting the next school year (SY 2024-2025). 

“This is under the power of SUCs and not of CHED. They should no longer accept new Grade 11 students because there is no longer a legal basis to do it. Those enrolled in Grade 12 of course have to finish their education,” De Vera added.

De Vera said that public universities that will continue to have high schools are those that run laboratory schools, which are SUCs that offer teacher education. 

“So, that continues, because even before K to 12, some public universities already had laboratory schools,” De Vera said, adding that the student population in these laboratory schools have been limited to 750 in the 2024 budget.

Public schools 

Poa said that current SHS students in SUCs who will be displaced have the option of enrolling in public DepEd schools instead.

“Based on the reports of our Regional Directors, our public schools will be able to accommodate those that may be displaced,” he said.

They may also transfer to a private school and avail of the SHS voucher program to subsidize their education, Poa added.

At least 17,700 Grade 11 students are currently enrolled in SUCs and local universities and colleges for the current school year, latest DepEd data shows.  

“There are regions where there are no longer any SHS learners in SUCs or LUCs, so no one will be displaced in these regions,” Poa said.