City of San Fernando, Pampanga—As part of the continuous preparations for the full implementation of the K to 12 Curriculum particularly the Senior High School (SHS) Program in 2016, the Department of Education Region III launched the SHS Simulation and Early Registration in the province of Bataan on Tuesday, August 25.

The SHS Simulation and Early Registration targets a total of 13,096 incoming SHS students who are currently enrolled as Grade 10 students in different public and private secondary schools in Bataan. As of August 2015, there are 45 DepEd and non-DepEd schools which will offer Senior High School in 2016.

This activity, which is an initiative of DepEd ROIII, aims to map out and analyze the number of incoming Grade 11 who will enrol in the different SHS tracks offered by public and private SHS which include private schools, higher education institutions (HEIs), state or local universities and colleges (SUCs/LUCs), and technical-vocational institutions (TVIs).

DepEd ROIII OIC-Regional Director Rizalino Jose T. Rosales said the SHS Simulation seeks to manage the distribution of Grade 11 students following the 60%-40% sharing between DepEd and non-DepEd SHS providers. “We need to identify and anticipate the number of incoming students following their preferred tracks to ensure that non-DepEd SHS providers will have a share of the projected enrolment and see to it that they become part of the implementation of the K to 12 Program,” stressed OIC-RD Rosales.

The SHS Simulation is a pioneer undertaking spearheaded by the DepEd ROIII with the support of other regional government agencies such as the Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, National Economic Development Authority, and Department of Labor and Employment.•