SHS: Are You Ready?

By Blessie Lynette Concina

Deped Memorandum No. 4 s. 2014 states that, pursuant to Section 30 of the Implementing Rules and Regulation (IRR) of Republic Act no. 10355, also known as the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, the national implementation of Senior High School (SHS) will be in school year 2016-2017 and onwards.

Senior High covers the last two years of K-12 which include Grades 11 and 12. In SHS, students will go through a core curriculum and subjects under a track of their choice. The Department of Education (DepEd) is doing their best for the better implementation and preparation for this curriculum. The time is getting nearer and nearer. Only a few months from now, SHS will start. But the question is, are we ready? Are you ready?

Most of the students would say that they are not yet ready for the next two years of their study in high school. According to them, this program is just new and they don't have yet a background knowledge about it. Furthermore, the facilities, the teachers, and buildings that are intended for the last two years of K-12 are still out of sight, they say. Moreover, the students are having difficulty in choosing the field their strengths are compatible with.

On the other hand, there are also students that would say that they are fully ready for the said program. They say that they are well-oriented about SHS and they already know what will happen in this program. Senior High is not a barrier but instead it could help students for their college studies. The knowledge that the students are about to take in while taking up the Senior High program could make it easier and even faster for the students in deciding what field or track they're going to take in the years to come. And according to them, Senior High School serves as the training ground for tertiary education.

The thing is: where are the facilities for SHS? Where are those buildings that the government kept on promising? There are lots of applicants for teachers, but where are they now? If only the government would present these teaching facilities to the incoming 11th graders. Therefore, students will no longer hesitate to decide for themselves if they are ready or not. If the government cannot yet offer the paraphernalia needed for the said program, even if the students are already equipped with knowledge that they would be needing for SHS, still this program would not be possible.

However, no matter how prepared or unprepared the students are, SHS must go on. But still, the answer is in your hand.