2016-03-21
MANILA - While most tertiary education institutions are bracing for massive decline in enrollments due to the implementation of the K to 12 program, STI schools have managed to turn this potential problem into an opportunity for growth.
This after STI Holdings, which operates a vast network of schools nationwide, said that the Department of Education has granted 76 of the 77 STI schools across the land their respective permits to offer senior high school under the K to 12 program.
In a quarterly report submitted Friday to the Philippine Stock Exchange, STI Holdings also disclosed that for the three months that ended on June 30, 2015, the company posted gross revenues of P414.9 million, up by 10 percent or P36.0 million from same period last year of P378.9 million.
Net income earned for the period stood at P35.4 million as against the same period last year's net income of P39.6 million due mostly to its increased depreciation expense resulting from completion of school construction and renovation projects. The Group's total assets as of June 30, 2015 amounted to P10.6 billion, six percent higher than the P10 billion balance as of March 31, 2015.
STI Holdings' business is linked to the academic cycle. This means that its fiscal year starts in the month of June and ends in the month of March. April to June represents the first quarter of STI Holdings' business.
In getting the DepEd permits to offer senior high school, STI schools can now take in enrollees, especially those from public high schools, if their schools are not yet deemed ready to implement K to 12.This should also enable STI schools to take in enrollees in the midst of the expected dearth in enrollments for college freshmen for the next two years. STI Holdings said: "The lack of classrooms and facilities of public high schools and the absence of freshmen students during the first year of implementation of the Senior High School posed as the opportunity that the STI group needed and at the same time, enabled the network to provide the DepEd with the needed assistance in housing the students who will be displaced."
During the first quarter of 2014, 92 private schools nationwide were granted permits by the DepEd to offer Senior High School. During that time, 67 or about 73 percent of these 92 institutions are STI schools.
"As of today, of the 77 schools in the STI ESG network, 76 have been granted the DepEd permit to offer Senior High School. Only one is still waiting for the permit," STI Holdings said.
The Senior High School programs of STI have two tracks: the Academic and Technical-Vocational tracks. Students who choose the Academic Track will be taught any of the following strands: Accountancy and Business and Management, Humanities and Social Science, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, and General Academic strand.
On the other hand, STI's Technical-Vocational Track would consist of various strands, depending on the specialization students wish to pursue: the Information and Communications Technology strand, Home Economics strand, or the Industrial Arts strand.
STI Holdings also disclosed that its subsidiary, the iACADEMY in Makati City, was also granted permission to offer Senior High School program. The school will not only have Academic and Technical-Vocational tracks, but also Arts and Design track.
Another university owned by STI, the STI West Negros University in Bacolod City, was also authorized to offer Senior High School, with tracks in Academic, Technical-Vocational, Arts, as well as in Sports.
STI Education Services Group's network of schools total to 77 schools, with 36 owned schools and 41 franchised, comprising 66 colleges and 11 education centers.
The STI ESG campuses have a total student capacity that can accommodate 112,131 students, with 66,543 pertaining to owned schools and 45,588 for franchised schools. To date, the schools under STI Holdings have a student population of 84,764, which is 4,564 higher than last year's 80,200 enrollees.
In recent years, STI ESG embarked on expansion and capital improvement projects as it encouraged schools to move from rented space into school-owned standalone campuses.
A number of franchised schools started their own facilities expansion programs. STI ESG now has 13 campuses with newly constructed or renovated buildings while eight of the franchised schools also either constructed or renovated their own buildings and upgraded their facilities.
