With the first batch of senior high school students graduating this month, Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones, expressed her confidence the new graduates will be able to advance in any field, particularly among the traditional routes provided after high school; higher education, skills development, employment, or entrepreneurship.

She also defended the implementation of K-to-12 education, noting, “At the rate things are changing and the demands on education are accelerating, the expectations of the public is increasing.”

The cabinet official added, if it were a matter of merely waiting on improvements to the prior educational system, “Baka maghintay tayo forever (Maybe, we will wait forever).”

According to data from DepEd, over 1.2 million students comprise the country’s first senior high school batch.

Over 61 percent on enrollees took up an academic track, with a majority in the general academic strand./WDJ