Days after the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) released a memorandum halting the admission of senior high school students this year, a video on Facebook (FB) talked about this “sudden decision” that netizens misconstrued as the abolition of the K to 12 system.
This needs context. The CHED does not have the power to remove the K to 12 program which is under the Department of Education. It was enacted into law through Republic Act No. 10533, or the Enhanced Education Act of 2013.
On Jan. 3, an FB page published a video with this caption:
“Grabe biglaang desisyon! kakapasok lang! mga magulang at istudyante panoorin niyo bago mag enroll sa senior high 2024! CHED: IPINAPAHINTO NAMIN NATIONWIDE ANG PAG TANGGAP NG K12 STUDENTS
(Shocking sudden decision! Just in! Parents and students, watch this before you enroll in senior high this 2024! CHED: We will stop admitting K-12 students nationwide)”
The nine-minute video showed CHED Chairperson J. Prospero De Vera III saying that state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local universities and colleges (LUCs) will no longer accept senior high school students. Many people, in the comments section of the video, took this as the scrapping of the K to 12 education system, which increased to 12 years from 10, the period required for basic education.
In a Jan. 8 ANC interview, De Vera clarified that the K to 12 has not been abolished, adding that his office has no authority to do so.
He also said CHED has been releasing memorandums on the discontinuation of the senior high school program at the tertiary level for the past three years, so he was “surprised” at the reaction to this year’s memo as this was not a move that came out of the blue.
The Department of Education and CHED previously had an agreement that from 2016 to 2021, or during the transition, SUCs and LUCs will admit senior high school students because they had excess capacity due to the decrease in the number of incoming first year college students.
In a Jan. 3 PTV interview, De Vera said they asked SUCs and LUCs to stop admitting senior high school students this year because “there is no legal basis” anymore to fund it and they should discuss this with their respective boards of regents.
The video that needs context was published by FB page VINZ WORLD (created on March 5, 2020) and garnered over 3,000 reactions, 1,200 comments, 1,500 shares and 114,000 views.
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