What is Open High School Program (OHSP)?

With the tagline, "Reaching the Unschooled Wherever and Whenever," Open High-School is one of the newest program of the Education Department to reach out most of our out-of-school youths.

This School Year I'm one of the fortunate teachers who were assigned to Open High School Program (OHSP). This is another teaching load aside from our regular classes. Based on the orientation for teachers, this year marks the 4th year of implementation of the said program in our school.

So what is OHSP?

Open High School Program or OHSP is an alternative mode of formal secondary education program run by the Bureau of Secondary Education (BSE) of the Department of Education (DepED) of the Republic of the Philippines. This program provides an opportunity for elementary school graduates, high school drop-outs and successful examinees of the Philippine Education Placement Test (PEPT) to complete secondary education in a purely distance learning mode. The program provides printed self-learning modules for students to use for their lessons and classroom activities.


Qualifications for students who wishes to avail of OHSP:
•     Filipino citizen
•     Independent learner
•     Have completed the pre-requisite grade or year level
•     Must pass the Independence Learning Readiness Test (ILRT) and the Informal Reading Inventory (IRI)

OHSP is available anytime. It is not dependent on the calendar of the regular school year. Student may start at their own time and at their own pacing, provided they complete their entire high education within a maximum period of six (6) years.

OHSP is intended for students who would otherwise be unable to pursue formal secondary education due the rigid requirement of regular class schedules. It is an alternative to attending regular classes but is not designed to be beneficial to all students. Most students may still learn best by attending the regular formal secondary education.


Source:
Bureau of Secondary of Education Website. http://www.bse.ph/index.php/ohsp.html

Summer Classes???

In my seven years of teaching in public secondary school, I still considered myself a newbie in may aspects of my profession. When I was hired in public school, I was a substitute to a teacher (who was then promoted to principal after passing the exam for school heads) with teaching loads assigned to middle sections. The following school year, I was given a teaching load with the lowest sections. To sum it up, my limited experience, exposed me to different types of learners. From the lowest sections to the highest sections, from academically inclined students to passive students, from good-mannered students to students with attitude problems...... I want to believe that I have already met all types of learners not until I've experienced teaching Summer Class.

This year I was given a chance to teach Summer Class. At first, I was actually hesitant to apply because of many stories I'm hearing about their experiences. What had driven me to do so was my urge to have a first hand experience teaching Summer Class and this is my chance. This is because in our Subject, we had an agreement (among teachers) to have a rotation for application to teach Summer Class. There are 13 teachers in our subject area, so if I let go of this chance, it would be another 13 years after I will be given another chance.

 After submitting an Application Letter to the Principal, the applicants were called for a meeting. The schedule were given, it is 6 times a week, Mondays to Saturdays, 3 hours per subject, a total of 36 school days.

This is my first time! And I'll try to answer the following questions based on my experience.

My Summer Class Students (picture taken during exam)

Describe your students in Summer Class.


Compare Summer Class from Regular Classes.


Given a chance, will you again apply teaching Summer Class?


Are you comfortable working during Summer?


Given a chance to work for curriculum planning, what would you suggest?


How about your pay during Summer Class... any comment?


What do you often say to your Summer Class students?



Last Saturday, we held our Commencement Exercises for graduating 4th year students this Summer Class. Almost a hundred students successfully graduated from our school & annexes.

Summer Classes 2014 officially ends today!