By Gigi Muñoz David

All graduating high school students will be required to take the scholastic aptitude test to determine if they qualify for college education starting school year 2009-2010.

But this early, education officials are at loggerheads over the implementation of the pre-college test, with one side saying it is a mere duplication of an existing examination.

Chairman Emmanuel Angeles of the Commission on Higher Education yesterday said the SAT will be a pre-enrollment requirement for high school graduates just like the defunct National College Entrance Examination.

SAT is among the recommendations contained in a report the Presidential Task Force on Education submitted to President Arroyo, said Angeles, who is also the vice chairman of the task force.

Angeles said a private entity will be formed and tasked to administer the examination.

Angeles rejected the view that the new test will be a duplication of the National College Assessment Examination that is being administered by the Education Department.

A high school graduate cannot enroll in college without passing SAT, Angeles said. Those who will flunk the test will have to enroll in a non-degree vocational course, Angeles said.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said the pre-college scholastic aptitude test is doomed to fail because of time constraint.

“Looking at the time frame, there might be problems especially if we want to implement such a program next school year,” Lapus said, adding that such a program requires enormous preparations.

In the case of the NCAE, Lapus said, the Education Department took several months to fine-tune the details of the program starting from the drafting of the guidelines, formulating the test questions up to its implementation.

Lapus also warned of a possible duplication of purpose with the current assessment test being administered to graduating high school students.

Lapus warned that the pre-college test should not be made similar to the NCEE, which was scrapped in 2004 by the late Education secretary Raul Roco.

NCAE was more responsive to the changing times because it helps enhance the development of every student’s core skills, Lapus said.

“It provides a complete overview as to the particular direction one could take after finishing secondary schooling.”

The NCAE, which measures a student technical and vocational capabilities as well as entrepreneurial skills, according to Lapus, will also help address the growing employment mismatch and ensure that students know what college course to pursue.