Nearly 1M pvt sch students transfer to public schs
By Creselda Canda-Lopez
“Based on what we’ve gathered, around 900,000 students have transferred…unfortunately, they’re congesting further our public school system, which is another bad consequence of this closure of schools,” Dr. Anthony Tamayo, chairman of the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA), said in an interview.
Around 900,000 private school students have transferred to public schools since start of pandemic in 2020, a group of private schools said.
Atty. Joseph Noel Estrada, the group’s managing director, said 60 percent of private schools saw decline in enrollment.
“Magkakaiba yung decline ng enrollment, pero base doon sa aming survey, 60 percent ang nakaranas ng pagbagsak ng kanilang enrollment in varying degrees…mayroon talagang halos magsara na at yung iba naman ay kaya pa,” he said in a separate interview.
Amid reports of permanent closures of many private schools nationwide, Tamayo appealed to government to consider private schools as complementary to public school system.
“I think private sector should be seen as a, not as a competition but compliments to each other, and should there be vacant spaces, instead also of constructing buildings, maybe students should be given vouchers so empty classrooms in private sector be filled up, that would also help in preventing closure,” he said.
“Like, now, there’s shortage of classrooms in public schools, 91,000 daw…so if you look at it, then why do we have many private schools closing down also ‘no…and unused spaces…so I think we really have to look at the resources available to us, to be able to help each other and improve our Philippine education system,” Estrada stressed,
Tamayo said government can help students by increasing amount given to senior high school students who hold vouchers for enrollment in private schools.
“An increase in that amount would be highly appreciated by public sector, and you can also include an increase in the junior high school sector for education service contracting,” he said.
He also called on the government to expand voucher program to include elementary school students.
“In the grade school there is voucher program at all…and that would be big help, aside from giving choice to the students, it would also now provide access to quality education.”
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