The Department of Education Secretary Leonor Briones on Friday allayed fears of massive teacher displacement and large dropout rates in the first year of implementation of the senior high school (SHS) program.
During the agency’s budget briefing at the House of Representatives, Briones told lawmakers that contrary to expectations, low enrollment figures and massive entrenchment among college professors were not encountered in the last leg of K-12 program.
As of August, the number of Grade 11 enrollees hit 1,517,610. Of this number, 1.46 million are Grade 10 completers, 54,262 are Balik-Aral (returning) students, and more than 2,000 are accreditation and evaluation exam passers.
Around 1.5-million students finished junior high school or Grade 10 in school year 2015-2016.
Briones said the recent figures show that additional expenses on two more years of basic education did not discourage parents from enrolling their children.
Meanwhile, a total of 3,950 teachers from higher education institutions (HEIs) were hired to teach in SHS, while 928 displaced faculty or staff used the “green lane” or priority lane of the department to fast-track their hiring.
Briones noted that 36,461 teacher positions were created for SHS.
The DepEd receives the lion’s share of the proposed 2017 budget, getting P566 billion, which is 31.4 percent higher than its current budget of P431 billion.
For 2017, the DepEd chief is earmarking P15.5 billion for the hiring of 53,831 teachers, P65.4 billion for the construction of classrooms, P3 billion for 55.8 million learning materials and P6.9 billion for 30,697 information and communications technology packages, among others.
Apart from addressing the continuing needs of the new curriculum, Briones said, preventive drug education would be enriched through experiential stories and the use of alternative modes of teaching such as films, movies, dance, art and poetry.
The DepEd was likewise directed to strengthen gender sensitivity and development especially in relation to teenage pregnancies, as well as disaster preparedness and climate change adaptation and mitigation.
The agency is working double-time to revive and expand the coverage of the Alternative Learning System to reach out to those who are left behind in the formal system of education.