CITY OF SAN FERNANDO— The provincial government convened on Friday some 107 public high school principals in the province with the officials of the Department of Education Regional Field Office (DepEd-III) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED-III) at King’s Royale Promenade to discuss the pressing concerns on secondary students’ welfare before the start of the next school.

Governor Lilia Pineda initiated the conference to make sure that the public schools are ready for the full implementation of K to 12 program.

It can be remembered that on April 2012, the Philippine Education System made a shift on implementing the K to 12 program wherein primary school will start from kinder to elementary grade 8, junior high school from grades 9 to 10 and senior highschool from grades 11 to 12.

After finishing K to 12 program, graduates will then be qualified for jobs even without having a college degree yet.

 According to Pineda, the Capitol, CHED-III and DepEd- III wanted to address the rising issues and other concerns of secondary schools in the province of Pampanga so that these schools will be able to accommodate and cater to K to 12 students.

During the conference, Assistant Provincial Engineer Noli Pangan reported all the constructed infrastructure projects of the provincial government on school facilities.

Pangan also included those infrastructure projects that are still on-going, for bidding and ready for awarding.

“We at the Provincial Government are doing the best we can to provide the schools all the facilities they need like laboratories and school clinics to make your schools ready for full-pledged K to 12 program,” said Pineda.

In her speech, Pineda stressed the importance of the educators and schools’ preparation for K to 12 program.

“There is a great demand for professionals here and outside our country and the thing that makes a professional is a good educational foundation.”

“If we prioritize and focus on primary and secondary education and produce competent professionals, we are one step ahead in decreasing poverty in our province as well as the whole country,” explained Pineda.

Pineda urged the school principals to work together for the success of the K to 12 program’s full implementation on the next 2 years.

Some of the concerns brought up in the conference are the issues on collection of miscellaneous fees, provision of facilities and instructors for Alternative Learning System Program, Malnutrition prevention on students and other health services, values formation, reasonable causes of high school drop-outs (such as poverty, broken family and child labor), lack of instructional materials and formulation of youth commission for out of school youths.

Aside from these, DepEd and CHED want the schools to evaluate their availability and readiness when it comes to the number of educators and its curriculum framework.

DepEd Regional Office Director Dr Isabelita Borres emphasized, “the curriculum of the school should guide the students on the path they want to pursue.”

She added, “K to 12 program was built to determine the students’ capacity and skills and match him on a specific course that caters to his expertise. Schools should take note that their training and curriculum should be based on the demands and resources available in their area.”

Participants of the conference also listened to the enhanced guidelines for the implementation of the Student Financial Assistance Program presented by CHEDRO-III Director Dr Caridad Abuan.