THE House committee on basic education chaired by Cebu Representative Ramon Durano IV approved the bill seeking to "ensure" access of elementary graduates to public high school education through the establishment of integrated schools providing complete basic education.

The bill, authored by Batangas Representative Vilma Santos-Recto, aims to expand existing public elementary schools into integrated schools that will offer complete basic education, including high school.

“There has been an alarming increase of elementary graduates who are unable to pursue secondary education because of the limited number of high schools and school facilities accessible within their communities,” Santos-Recto said.

According to Santos-Recto, the creation of an extension high school will result to lesser cost for the students as well as to the government.

“Students are in need of an accessible high school within their community. The government should pay immediate attention and address the gross shortage of public secondary schools to reduce the number of out-of-school youths in the country. Establishing more secondary schools will open opportunities for students to access complete basic education at a lower cost and meet the growing educational needs of the youth,” Santos-Recto said.

Integrated School (IS) as defined in the bill refers to “a public school that offers kindergarten, elementary and junior high school education and has unified instructional program. (SunStar Philippines)