MANILA, Philippines – The University of the Philippines released on Thursday night, December 17, the results of the 2015 UP College Admission Test (UPCAT), revealing a significantly smaller number of passers in many years due to the government’s K to 12 program.

The UPCAT results site showed that a total of 1,558 takers passed the exam, which was administered nationwide in August 2014.

The figure represents a dramatic drop in the number of UPCAT passers from the past 4 years, when they ranged between 12,000 and 13,000 every year.

The number of those who took the entrance exam to the country’s premier state university this year was also reduced. From 87,000 in 2014, less than 10,000 took it in 2015.

This is the effect of the K to 12 program of the Aquino government, which prevented this year’s 4th year high school students from graduating, and instead required them to go through two additional years in senior high school starting academic year 2016-2017. (READ: Can Grade 10 students take the UPCAT this year?)

Parents and teachers from the Manila Science High School (MSHS) asked the Supreme Court in late July to immediately suspend the implementation of the K to 12 program for the current batch of 4th year or Grade 10 students so they could take the UPCAT in August.

The MSHS petitioners argued that the current 4th year students entered high school in 2012, when there was no K to 12 law yet. The law adding two more years to high school was passed in 2013.

Those who entered freshman year in 2012 therefore enrolled with the knowledge and expectation they would graduate from high school after 4 years, or in 2016, and should have been eligible to take the UPCAT in 2015.

Theirs and several other petitions against the K to 12 law had been pending before the High Court. The urgent motion was not tackled by the SC, however. – Rappler.com