Commission on Higher Education chairperson Prospero de Vera III on Monday clarified that the Kindergarten to Grade 12 or K-to-12 Program has not been abolished.

De Vera made the clarification amid the discontinuation of the senior high school, or SHS, program in government-run universities and colleges.

"The K to 12 program is not abolished. It's not within the power of the commission to abolish the K to 12 program. It is a law enacted by Congress," De Vera told reporters in an online press conference. "K to 12 will continue pursuant to the republic act that created it. Let's make that clear."

The CHEd earlier issued a memorandum reiterating its decision to discontinue the senior high school program in state universities and colleges and local universities and colleges.

"The CHEd memo that we have issued is not abrupt or arbitrary because there is no displacement of students in this academic year 2022-2023," De Vera explained.

"It is not abrupt and what we issued is a memorandum so that the different public universities can act on the matter," he said.

According to him, the closing down of the senior high school offering in SUCs and LUcs had been going on for about three years now.

"There are many SUCs that stopped offering senior high school as early as three years ago pursuant to the provisions of the guidelines for senior high school. The basic problem really is that there is no more legal basis for SUCs and LUCs to have a senior high school, except for those that have laboratory schools for educational students," De Vera said.

De Vera said the transition period for the implementation of the senior high school program had ended two years ago.

One of the reasons SUCs and LUCs have stopped offering a senior high school program is that some of them have achieved full capacity and they need their facilities for their own students, De Vera explained.