JUNE 1, 2012 DATE

NR # 2757B
REF. NO.

House Approves Open High School System Bill

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill that will provide equal opportunities for adults and children of high school age who are out of school to avail of free open high school education through the distance learning modality. House Bill 6086, to be known as the Open High School System Act, establishes the Open High School System (OHSS) as part of the Department of Educations alternative secondary education program. Rep. Lani Mercado-Revilla (2nd District, Cavite), author of the bill, said establishing the OHSS encourages self-learning and provides an alternative quality educational system to these students through print, television, radio and computer-based communications, satellite broadcasting, teleconferencing and other multi-media learning and teaching technologies that allow them to learn on their own pace and time without having to attend conventional classrooms. This promotes total liberation of the Filipino youth from the chains of ignorance and physical and geographical conditions, Mercado-Revilla said. Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara (Lone District, Aurora), another author of the measure, said the true value of education in ones life cannot be fathomed. Everyone is entitled by right to proper education. Unfortunately, due to economic, geographic and time management constraints, not everyone who acknowledges the significance of education will be able to avail of it, Angara said. Finishing high school is an asset that everyone with the opportunity should take full advantage of. Just finishing high school alone opens up thousands more opportunities for individuals. When entering a specific field within the job market, it is often required that an applicant at least posses a high school diploma. Many times, without the high school diploma, a person is restricted to a smaller number of occupations for which they are qualified for, Angara added. Rep. Augusto Syjuco (2nd District, Iloilo), another author of the bill, said the best safeguard to the countrys democratic political system is an enlightened citizenry who cannot be cowed or dictated upon. These are the citizens, who would fight for their right to a better life; who would struggle individually and collectively to develop the countrys economy and make it globally competitive, Syjuco said. These are the citizens our laws must serve and protect. These are the citizens whose right to education the State must guarantee. Among these citizens are the underprivileged out-of-school youth and adults who have graduated from elementary but are unable to go to high school because of geographic and socio-economic constraints, Syjuco added. Rep. Edcel Lagman (1st District, Albay), also an author of the bill, said a country that fails or neglects to give premium to education of its people will inevitably falter in human development and lag behind in economic advancement.

JUNE 1, 2012 DATE

NR # 2757B
REF. NO.

The dismal access to secondary education in the country is evidenced by the fact that less than 55% of families in the lowest 10% percentile income bracket have children enrolled in high school while 75% of the families in the top 10% percentile have their children in the secondary level. Poverty has driven poor parents to allow if not push their children to work to augment family income, Lagman said. Another author of the bill, Rep. Winston Castelo (2nd District, Quezon City) said the Open High School System could be likened, albeit figuratively, to a manna from heaven. The bill envisions e-learning as a very viable educational system enabling children, youth, even adults to start, continue, resume and eventually finish their secondary education outside of the conventional classroom setting, Castelo said. The bill covers all youth and adults who have finished elementary education and high school qualifiers under the Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT). It adopts the National Secondary Education Curriculum (NSEC) using the Philippine Secondary Schools Learning Competencies (PSSC). The measure provides for the recruitment of teachers or guros or gurong tagapatnubay that will be given incentives and monetary compensation as determined by the Department of Education (DepEd). The para guro, (degree holder of college level resident on the community who manges a learning center) gurong kadluan (resource person with specialized skills in practical or industrial subjects) and tagapayong pansamahan (club adviser) will receive honoraria to be arranged with the local school board and appropriate training programs will be extended to the guro, gurong tagapatnubay, (guidance counselor) para guro, gurong kadluan and tagapayong pansamahan. The bill encourages the DepEd, the UP-Open Educational System and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement that specifies their respective roles to ensure maximum cooperation and success in the operation of the OHSS. The co-authors are Reps. Salvador Escudero III (1st District, Sorsogon), Sherwin Tugna (Party-list, CIBAC), Marcelino Teodoro (1st District, Marikina City), Romeo Acop (2nd District, Antipolo City), Rachel Marguerite Del Mar (1st District, Cebu City), Bernadette Herrera-Dy (Partylist, Bagong Henerasyon), Pedro Romualdo (Lone District, Camiguin), Luis Villafuerte (3rd District, Camarines Sur) and Maria Carmen Zamora-Apsay (1st District, Compostela Valley). (30) lvc