The Department of Education (DepEd) has announced that schools nationwide will still accept enrollees until September 30, 2021.
During the National School Opening Day Program, Undersecretary for Field Operations, Palarong Pambansa Secretariat and DEACO and Oplan Balik Eskwela Co-Chair Atty. Revsee Escobedo shared the extension of enrollment for School Year 2021-2022.
“Batay po sa napag-usapan ng ExeCom noong nakaraang pagmi-meeting, magpapalabas po tayo ng order kung saan ang Department of Education ay tatanggap ng enrollees hanggang September 30, 2021,” Undersecretary Escobedo said.
According to Department Order No. 30, series of 2021, DepEd has instructed public schools and private schools, state universities, and colleges following the DepEd schedule, to admit learners until the end of the month.
He added that the Department is hopeful that the basic education will surpass the enrollment numbers recorded by DepEd last school year, which is a total of 26,227,022 learners.
“Umaasa po tayo na sa buwang ito ay mas mahihigitan natin ang numero ng enrollment natin noong nakaraang School Year 2020-2021. Dahil ngayong September 13, 2021, sa pagbubukas ng klase ay mayroon na kaagad tayong 24.6M enrollees,” he stated.
As of September 14, the Department already logged in 25,582,224 enrollees (or 97.5% from last year) for this school year, with 19,411,039 learners registered in public schools, while 1,563,321 enrolled in private institutions.
Furthermore, DepEd also noted that Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley Region, MIMAROPA, Central and Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Caraga, BARMM, and CAR already exceeded their enrollment rate last year, indicating that some learners who opted not to enroll in the previous year are returning this time.
Meanwhile, Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones pointed out that she still expects more learners to participate in the upcoming school year despite the challenges of the pandemic.
The Education chief also shared graduation figures in the previous year, highlighting the Department’s commitment to continue education despite the threat of lockdowns and closures.
“Our tentative graduation figures indicated that 98.13% or 2,055,499 of 2,115,040 Grade 6 learners made it. Our Grade 10 learners also did very well. 96.9% or 1,881,817 out of 1,940,578 completed their studies. Our Grade 11 learners made it at 97.2% or 1,489,164 of l,531,718,” she said. (DepEd Philippines)
