DOST Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
MANILA, Philippines —The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) plans to expand the Philippine Science High School (PSHS) system to accommodate more students.
“To address the growing demand, we are looking at establishing 10 additional campuses across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao,” DOST Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. said on Monday. “We will prioritize regions where a high number of students pass the entrance exam but cannot be accommodated.”
Solidum said that while more than 100,000 students take the PSHS entrance exam annually, at least 5,000 qualified passers are unable to secure slots due to limited capacity in existing campuses. Currently, the PSHS system operates 16 campuses nationwide.
The specific locations of the new campuses have yet to be finalized, as plans must carefully consider distribution to avoid clustering schools too close to one another.
Funding for the expansion, Solidum said, will be rolled out gradually. Each campus typically targets a maximum of 120 students per year, though some currently accommodate only 90 due to resource constraints.
