Executive Summary The unemployment rate of the youth has been consistently high in the Philippines based on recent data and research findings. One major strategy introduced by the government to address this problem is the implementation of the K to 12 Program in 2012, which revamped the basic education curriculum and imposed an additional two years, or the Senior High School (SHS), as prescribed in the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013. This major educational reform has designed Senior High School for three possible exits: toward (a) higher education, (b) middle-level skills development, and (c) employment or entrepreneurship. Such structure assumes that the SHS graduates will have the competencies and skills not only for further studies but also for employment. However, the Department of Education (DepEd) lacks data and empirical evidence on the employability of the first batches of K to 12 graduates as the agency has yet to conduct a tracer study of the graduates of the program. Moreover, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted the youth’s education and training as schools have shifted to different learning modalities. At the same time, many companies have shut down or downsized and turned their recruitment processes online. Young workers, including SHS graduates, find themselves competing against more people – some of whom have more relevant work experience than they do – for less available jobs. With the changes brought by the K to 12 Program in the country’s education system and a current worldwide pandemic, the school-to-work transition has indeed become more difficult for the youth. The Commission on Human Rights (CHR), the country’s independent national human rights institution (NHRI) entrusted with the role of monitoring the human rights situation in the country as well as the government’s compliance with international treaty obligations to human rights, looked into the situation of the youth in school-to-work transition. Pursuant to this mandate, the CHR’s Economic, Social, and Cultural (ESCR) Center under the Human Rights Management Office produced this human rights situation report on the right to education of the youth, specifically their transition from school to work, as well as their experiences in the context of the implementation of the K to 12 Program and the COVID-19 pandemic. In developing this report, the ESCR Center conducted virtual focus group discussions (FGDs) with representatives of five different sectors: (i) national organizations and local government units; (ii) civil society organizations and advocacy groups; (iii) employers; (iv) teachers, school administrators, and principals; and (v) youth. 3