SHS: ON FULL IMPLEMENTATION

ALLAN R. TRAQUINA

The government never takes a slack when it comes to providing quality education. This adheres to the realization of the urgent need to enhance the Basic Education of the Department of Education through Republic Act 10533 also known as the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013. With this exquisite program of DepEd, the Division of Angeles City fully supports the additional two years of specialized upper secondary education in its Senior High School (SHS) Program.

The sophistication of SHS, the students may choose a career track based on aptitude, interests and school capacity. The government has subsidized the needed budget for the program to ensure the success of K to 12 Program on SHS full implementation in School Year 2017-2018. The career pathways which were clustered into 4 strands for academic track constitute the demands of the real world of work such as Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM), General Academic Strand (GAS), Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS), and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Nonetheless, students who are inclined into Technical-Vocational Livelihood, Sports, and Arts and Design have likewise a venue in the SHS program. It simply boils down to this dictum that the government rationalizes its core on literacy for all.

Moreover, the government’s advocacy at 12 years of basic education provides equal opportunities to students at succeeding. The students are getting into top universities and best jobs after graduation. With adequate information disseminated in the locality, students would easily decide which career path to take. The schools both private and private are taking the lead through career guidance forums to direct students in their possessed skills where they can be exceptional. Easy access of information is via the internet where they can extensively acquire the desired information in their prepared track of specialization though schools also provide brochures and pamphlets for students.

Strengthening early childhood education through the Kinder Education Program, DepEd truly ensures to making the curriculum relevant to learners, building proficiency through language, easing integrated and seamless learning and nurturing the holistically developed Filipinos are the underlying strengths and salient features of SHS. It is imperative then to reconfigure that DepEd indeed prepares the students to be productive and contributing members in the society.

With all these superb promises of SHS, how can all these happen? The curriculum engineers and teacher-implementers should value the significance of ensuring quality education in the Philippines. The students, who are the reasons and centers of these curricular reforms, should value the rare opportunity to be in school because the government through DepEd continues its commitment to achieve global standards of learning and brings education accessible to all. It is then ours to make this paradigm shift successful if students would take their prepared specialized track seriously.

With all these bits of information and challenge, we are now ready perhaps to embrace the full implementation of SHS with courage and high spirit this School Year 2017-2018. — oOo— The author is Head Teacher I/OIC at Virgen Delos Remedios Elementary School, Division of Angeles City