ABOUT 98 percent of public and private schools do not offer enough sports and arts tracks, resulting in stiff competition for available slots, a think tank said.

This means that out of the total 11,087 senior high school (SHS) institutions, only 204 or 2 percent of the total number offer sports and arts tracks, the state-run Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) said.

“It is important to note that due to limited strand offerings, there were students who had to compete for limited slots. Such was the case of student respondents from arts and design, and sports tracks,” said the study titled “Status of senior high school implementation: A process evaluation.”

Among the regions, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon) has the largest number of SHS institutions not offering these tracks, followed by Central Luzon and Central Visayas.

PIDS consultant and study author Karen Brillantes said students expressed a lack of choice in terms of tracks and strands due to supply-side issues in program offering.

“Many students fail to enter in strands they like simply because of the unavailability of tracks at [the] provincial and regional levels,” Brillantes said

“The choice should be aligned with the interest of the student given that the SHS program was supposed to put premium on student’s choice,” she added.

The study also said there was a need to ensure the availability of all tracks and major strands, at least at the provincial or regional levels and strengthen career guidance in
schools.

It also underscored the need to expose students to performances and sport competitions like the Palarong Pambansa, and to balance their academics and extracurricular activities.

Brillantes said the Department of Education needed to clarify the curriculum implementation design such as subject delivery, classroom assessment, scope of subjects and scheduling.

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